May brings a flurry of festivities in the Shinto calendar, and Kyoto kicks off the month with several colourful events, including the Aoi Festival preliminaries (the grand parade takes place on the 15th). This year the sunshine was in … Read the rest
In Kyoto, May means the Aoi Festival. (July is Gion Matsuri; October is the Jidai Matsuri.)
The Aoi festivities, which last the whole month, are overseen by a special ‘Saoi-dai’ who is chosen to represent the imperial princess who was … Read the rest
The Inari Festival (Inari sai) at Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari Shrine finished today with the return of its five mikoshi from their ‘otabisho‘, or resting place, where they have been since April 20. (The Shinko Festival held that day … Read the rest
In what must surely be a first of its kind, the Yomiuri Shimbun carries a report about the promotion of Gion Festival overseas via music concerts in Boston, USA. It’s an unexpected development in the increasing internationalisation of Shinto, … Read the rest
The spring equinox is celebrated in Japan with Shunbun no hi, a national holiday. It was established in 1948 as a day for the admiration of nature and the love of living things. Prior to 1948, the vernal … Read the rest
The customary drink for the festival is shirozake, a sake made from fermented rice. A colored hina-arare, bite-sized crackers flavored with sugar or soy sauce depending on the region, and hishimochi, a diamond-shaped colored rice cake, are served. … Read the rest
The plum blossom festival at Kitano Tenmangu is one of my favourites, partly because it heralds the coming of spring and partly because it is such a bustling affair with an antiques market and tea ceremony served by geisha. … Read the rest
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