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An Immortal Poet

The tenth-century poet Ōtomo-no-Kuronushi was considered one of the six poetic geniuses of the early Heian period. It’s said that his poetry was so great that he became a deity, enshrined in the neighboring province of Shiga. Kuronushi enjoying the beauty of cherry blossoms – a favorite Japanese pastime – forms the central image for a famous yōkyoku or noh song called “Shiga.”

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Local residents reintroduced Shijō Kasa Boko to the festival in 1988, after a 117-year absence. As you can imagine, this is no small undertaking.

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The Gion Festival Yamaboko Floats

The Gion Festival’s 33 yamaboko or floats are arguably its most famous feature. Actually, the Gion Festival’s true luminaries are the many deities that it celebrates. Maybe you can sense them, but deities are generally invisible. So the festival’s spectacular yamaboko capture most of our worldly attention.

What’s do you need to know about the Gion Festival yamaboko? Firstly, yamaboko come in two types of float: yama and hoko.

Also, the Gion Festival yamaboko appear in two phases. Twenty-three form the larger saki matsuri (“early festival,” from July 10-17).

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Shijō Kasa Boko 四条傘鉾 – An Umbrella and Children’s Dance

Local residents reintroduced Shijō Kasa Boko to the festival in 1988, after a 117-year absence. As you can imagine, this is no small undertaking. Today the Shijō Kasa Boko shows us what some of the Gion Festival floats probably looked like in the Muromachi Period (1337-1573). History tells us the floats started out as pikes or halberds. Eventually, over centuries, they morphed to their current forms. 

The highlight of the Shijō Kasa Boko is its children’s dance and music. With Ayagasa Boko, it’s unique in the Gion Festival saki matsuri‘s July 17 procession. In the dance, two boys wear costumes and “bear wigs” wave long poles in a lively dance. And six more boys accompany the dance with various percussion instruments: bells, drums, and clave sticks.

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Hachiman Yama 八幡山:  Protector God of Warriors

Hachiman Yama is dedicated to Hachiman, a divine protector of warriors, Japan and the Japanese people. Interestingly the food-producing classes class also worshipped him as the deity of agriculture and fisheries, making Hachiman shrines some of the most widespread in the country.

Hachiman is also the deified semi-legendary Emperor Ōjin, who purportedly lived in the 3rd to 5th centuries. The story of his life is related in Japan’s most ancient texts, where among other things he’s described as the son of Empress Jingū, revered at Fune Boko and Urade Yama. Ōjin’s also known for developing cultural exchanges with modern-day Korea and China.

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Kyoto’s “Gion Festival” is regarded as one of the three most renowned festivals in Japan and Kyoto. It is aA religious collection of spiritual rituals and celebrations orienting around that has continued at Yasaka Shrine and central Kyoto, it’s lasted for more than 1000 years.

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Kyoto Gion Festival

Kyoto’s famed Gion Festival features dazzling portable shrines and crane dances at Yasaka Shrine, geisha sightings, amazing street food and outstanding people watching.

But its best-known symbols are the 33 floats that are painstakingly constructed, decorated and taken down again each year between July 10 and 24. They vary in shape and size, but the largest weighs in at a whopping 12 tons, their spires reaching up seven stories in the air.

Kyoto’s torrential rains and steamy heat in July make the best of us feel miserable. Before modern science and sanitation, it made people desperately ill. And back in the 9th century, plagues and such were punishment from unhappy spirits. So the Heian emperor ordered a ritual to appease them.

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One of the most awaited cultural events of the year in Japan, Kyoto's Gion Matsuri or Gion Festival is a gigantic ritual praying to Japanese deities for good health and wellbeing, specifically freedom from epidemics and other illnesses that were common in the annual summer rains.

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The saki matsuri or “early festival” takes place from July 12-17, while the ato matsuri or “late festival” happens from July 20-24.

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Kyoto’s famed Gion Festival features dazzling portable shrines and crane dances at Yasaka Shrine, geisha sightings, amazing street food and outstanding people watching.

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Taishi Yama 太子山 – Japan’s Saintly Genius

Taishi Yama features Shōtoku Taishi, a 6th-century Japanese genius and saint. Among other things, he introduced Buddhism as Japan’s state religion, drafted Japan’s first constitution, and first centralized government, based on influences from the Asian continent. A prodigious scholar and devout Buddhist practitioner, he also commissioned the construction of numerous Buddhist temples. 

The float depicts him chopping down a cedar tree himself in order to build a temple dedicated to the divine guardians of four directions, hence the cedar adorning this float (others feature pine trees). Part statesman, spiritual leader, tree-chopper – Shōtoku Taishi was a true Renaissance man. A highlight of Taishi Yama is viewing the historic Hata family kyōmachiya townhouse.

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Iwatō Yama 岩戸山 – The Stone Door Float

Iwatō Yama depicts three major deities from Japanese history and mythology: Amaterasu Ōmikami, Tajikara No-Mikoto and Izanagi No-Mikoto. Their remarkable tales come from the 8th-century Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. These are Japan’s two oldest texts, which document earliest Japanese history and culture.

The primordial Japanese deity Izanagi No-Mikoto got together with his partner Izanami No-Mikoto to co-create the Japanese islands and Japanese people. The Kojiki tells us that Amaterasu was born from his left eye, similar to the Greek deity Athena emerging from Jupiter’s thigh.

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Gion Festival 2021: Subdued, Dedicated, Quiet!

Priding itself in being virtually unstoppable, the Gion Festival is continuing this year, albeit in a smaller scale than normal years due to Covid.

To prevent the spread of Covid, people have been asked to not gather. A Gion Festival without hundreds of thousands of festival-goers is sobering, but the Gion Festival neighborhood associations, plus representatives from Yasak

Image caption: The golden portable mikoshi shrines for Yasaka Shrine deities are staying at the shrine this year, not being carried through Kyoto streets as usual. Note the lack of shrine visitors. Photo courtesy Jodi NIcholas.

a Shrine (the festival’s patron shrine) and related organizations are carrying out Shinto purification rituals and other essential festival elements with determination and pride in tradition.

The general mood is subdued but upbeat and stalwart, with much focus on prayers for the end of Covid and a return to the usual grand Gion Festival in 2022.

The Gion Festival was begun in the year 869 A.D. to end epidemics plaguing Kyoto and its inhabitants amidst the annual rainy season.

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Priding itself in being virtually unstoppable, the Gion Festival is continuing this year, albeit in a smaller scale than normal years due to Covid

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The Damask Umbrella Float

Ayagasa Boko’s drapery features silk weaving of celestial beings, so finely executed that it looks painted–a tribute to Kyoto’s kimono weaving heritage.[/caption]

Ayagasa Boko’s umbrella shape hearkens back to the festival’s earliest 9th-century days, when the floats started as different kinds of halberds, banners and other tall pole-type instruments that could be carried.

This float’s dynamic musical score features costumed members whirling and drumming simultaneously, a unique offering among the yamaboko. It’s derived from nenbutsu odori, a 10th-century ritualistic performance wherein the beat of drums and bells accompanied dancing and Buddhist mantra chanting.

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Priding itself in being virtually unstoppable, the Gion Festival is continuing this year, albeit in a smaller scale than normal years due to Covid.

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Kita Kannon Yama 北観音山 –  The Northern Kannon Float

Kita Kannon Yama is perhaps the most traditional float and chōnai in the festival; only chōnai members and their guests may visit the float and its treasures. As the municipal, prefectural and national governments have promoted the festival as a tourist attraction, Kita Kannon Yama has managed to retain its original feel as a neighborhood event. 

This neighborhood has also conserved traditional buildings, including some of the most beautiful and generous byōbu matsuri displays in the entire festival.

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