Author: John D. (Page 135 of 202)

July 17 at 9.00 precisely the main procession of the Gion Matsuri starts, and the 32 yamaboko floats parade through the city centre.  If you can sit or stand for three hours in 34 degrees in crowded conditions, you get to see the whole thing live.

If on the other hand you’re a sensitive, white-skinned northern European of Viking descent, like myself, you prefer to watch it live on KBS (Kyoto television).  That way you not only get to enjoy airconditioning, but you get an informed commentary, close-ups of all the floats, helicopter shots from above, and instant access to the refrigerator.

Two yama and a hoko parading through downtown Kyoto

One of the hoko chigo, musicians and people who perch perilously on the roof

Close-up of the main chigo (centre), who has two attendants (one of whom is in the foreground)

One of the highlights is when the hoko come to a crossroads for the huge wooden wheels are fixed and can only go straight, meaning that sticks are shoved underneath and the huge float pulled round... quite skilful act which does not always work smoothly.

Some of the hard work that goes into maoeuvering the hoko

Every so often one of the floats stops to perform a dance or ritual

Announcement of the float's participation in the parade is done with due pomp and circumstance. The Japanese ability at ritual aesthetics is here seen at its best.

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For a full list of the order of floats in the parade, please see here.

One of the tapestries that adorn the floats in the Gion parade – but what's with the Western faces??

The last evening before the parade – known as yoiyama – is traditionally the biggest in terms of crowds, with many staying up all night. It’s the last chance to view all the many displays and in the early morning to see the removal of decorations onto the floats themselves. There are 32 floats in all, each with its own particular history, and the parade begins promptly at 9.00 am on the 17th.

What’s interesting is how much religious worship is going on amidst all the high-spirited revelry.  Good luck charms are on sale everywhere, and people stopped to give money and pray to the objects that were waiting to be mounted onto the floats.  I even saw one woman pray towards one of the floats and bow respectfully.

Box to collect last year's protective charm (chimaki), hung on house doors for a year. Each float's charm has a different purpose, that of the Koi yama being for advancement in life.

One of the most interesting floats I came this year was the Koi-yama, which features a large carp jumping up the Ryumon (Dragon Gate) Falls. It’s based on an old Chinese legend thatif a fish successfully swims up the falls on the Yellow River, it will turn into a dragon. The white hemp tassel hanging beside the carp symbolises the falls, while all the railings and metalwork are in wave patterns.

The front of the float has a red Torii gate, and toward the back of the boat is a small shrine dedicated to Susanoo-no mikoto, god of storms (enshrined at the sponsoring shrine of Yasaka Jinja, aka Gion sha).

The extraordinary fabrics which decorate the float used to be a single large tapestry made in Belgium in the 16th century. It shows a scene from the Iliad, featuring King Prismos and Queen Hekabe.  According to an expert, it’s the only one of its kind that was produced in Belgium; how extraordinary that the Greek epic should find itself adorning a Shinto religious festival!

The supposition is that the tapestry was brought to Japan by Hazekura Tsunenaga, an envoy of Date Masamune who visited Europe 1613-1620.  While there, he met with Philip III of Spain and the pope in Rome, who may have presented him with the tapestry.  By the time that Hazekura returned to Japan, Christianity had been banned and his contacts considered suspicious.  The tapestries had to be secreted away – but how on earth did they end up on a Gion float?  Given the Shinto nature of the festival, and the hatred with which the authorities regarded Christianity, it seems quite extraordinary….

Presumably one of the wealthy Kyoto merchants obtained the tapestry, and at some point it was decided the large tapestry should be cut up into portions and given Japanese motifs on either side, to make it more festival-like. The result is an odd mix of West and East, as mythological dragons are displayed either side of Greek and Trojan figures.

A piece of the Belgian tapestry with dragon snakes attached on either side

East meets West in close juxtaposition. Scenes from the Iliad mixed with Chinese folklore (a modern copy of the original)

The float's contents of shrine and carp are displayed in a house next to the float before being mounted prior to the procession. The float's main theme of a carp swimming vigorously upstream to become a dragon is undoubtedly Chinese in origin, while the torii is decidedly Japanese, mixed interculturally with the Western faces on the float's tapestry hangings.

Kyoto's nightscape adorned with lanterns on the Gion Matsuri floats

For three evenings before the Gion Matsuri main parade on May 17, the centre of Kyoto is closed to traffic (known as pedestrians’ heaven) as the area is packed with crowds making their way around the various floats and other items on display. The evening before the parade is known as ‘yoiyama’, the evening before that is yoiyoiyama, and the evening before that is ‘yoiyoiyoiyama’.

Japanese craftsmanship with wood and rope. Not a single nail is used in the floats, which are disassembled after the parade.

People dress up in all kinds of costumes, but mainly yukata, and there’s a party atmosphere. Getting round to see the floats is quite a challenge as some of the streets are absolutely packed – 270,000 attended last night by official accounts.

There are two kinds of floats: yama, which carry some kind of exhibit on them, and the hoko on which musicians sit and which have a tall spire-like decoration on top. Yama are much more numerous; hoko are only few in number, but cause most of the excitement during the parade as the wheels cannot turn round corners but have to be manoeuvred with wedges and great difficulty.

I managed to get around several of the traditional floats last night, and here I’ll focus on one yama and one hoko to show the differences. The Hashi-Benkei yama features a scene from the Noh play about the legendary encounter between the youthful high-class Yoshitsune and the warrior-monk Benkei. The latter had been descending on Kyoto from Mt Hiei, where he was based, and challenging strangers to duels. In this way he had accumulated 999 swords from his defeated opponents, and was hoping for the 1000th when he came across Yoshitsune in disguise as a woman on Gojo Bridge, but by skilful athleticism Yoshitsune was able to defeat the mighty Benkei (think Robin Hood and Little John).

The dolls on the float (see below) have an inscription saying 1563 by Koun, who was the top sculptor of his time. The float always appears in the parade as the 25th, one of 8 floats whose position in the procession is fixed. (The rest are chosen by lottery.)

The Yoshitsune and Benkei puppets on display on a veranda. Before the parade, they will be mounted on the 'yama' float.

Hoko have tall ‘spires’ and feature musicians seated on the tall wagons above the enormous wooden wheels. They are draped with hangings, and the Naginata hoko that leads the procession has tapestries from as far away as Iran, China, Mongolia and Korea.  Naginata is a long sword, featured on the front of the hoko, which symbolically clears away impurities and evil spirits.  The original, preserved as a treasure, was made about 1000 years ago by master swordsmith, Sanjo-Kankoji Munechika.  The long sword now seen on the float is made with bambook covered in tin foil.  The chigo (young spirit boy) is always seated in the naginata at the head of the procession.

The Naginata hoko, with long sword emblem

Musicians on the raised platform of a hoko playing characteristic Gion bayashi music