Gion Matsuri festival Kyoto - 17 July 2019
The reason for our trip to Kyoto was because we wanted to visit and experience the Gion Festival. It is Summer here and today the weather was perfect for this cultural event. The floats begin the parade at 9:00 am so we left our hotel at 8:00. We arrived to find crowds already lining the streets and many of the best view points taken. However we were lucky to find an opening in the barricades at a bus stop (no busses would be running during the "parade").
The origin of the Gion Matsuri goes back to the 9th century when people suffered from the plague. Portable shrines were carried through the streets of Kyoto and the plague disappeared. Later in the 10th century people started having processions to celebrate their health and good fortune. The procession serves as protection and purification. The belief is that evil forces can be gathered by the floats through the attraction of glittering objects, music and ritualistic dancing. Immediately after each procession the floats are disassembled so that evil forces that have been gathered cannot escape.
Tsujimawashi Cornering. Each float has its own unique meaning and benefits. The floats can't be steered very well with their wooden wheels and no rudder to steer with, so split bamboo slats are placed under the wheels and water applied to allow the wheels to slide whilst being pulled around the corner. Leaders riding the floats waved their fans in a beautiful choreographed fashion timing their motion perfectly with the people working on the wheels and those pulling the float to turn their individual floats. Such as with the Hoko float there are 30 to 50 pullers. This float has a height of 25 meters with a weight of 7 to 9 tons!
The origin of the Gion Matsuri goes back to the 9th century when people suffered from the plague. Portable shrines were carried through the streets of Kyoto and the plague disappeared. Later in the 10th century people started having processions to celebrate their health and good fortune. The procession serves as protection and purification. The belief is that evil forces can be gathered by the floats through the attraction of glittering objects, music and ritualistic dancing. Immediately after each procession the floats are disassembled so that evil forces that have been gathered cannot escape.
Tsujimawashi Cornering. Each float has its own unique meaning and benefits. The floats can't be steered very well with their wooden wheels and no rudder to steer with, so split bamboo slats are placed under the wheels and water applied to allow the wheels to slide whilst being pulled around the corner. Leaders riding the floats waved their fans in a beautiful choreographed fashion timing their motion perfectly with the people working on the wheels and those pulling the float to turn their individual floats. Such as with the Hoko float there are 30 to 50 pullers. This float has a height of 25 meters with a weight of 7 to 9 tons!
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