Gion Festival - Kyoto’s largest and most energetic & historical festival
One of the massive Hoko floats making a 90-degree turn on the da of the Grand Procession; Photo by Moritz Marutschke (kyotographer.com)
High atop the Naginata-hoko float, the chigo (celestial child) slowly lifts the sacred sword. The crowd holds its collective breath as the sword hangs in the air at the apex of its curve, sunlight keening off its edge. Swiftly, it drops and in a single, flawless stroke slices through the thick straw rope hung across Shijo Street from tall bamboo poles.
For the young chigo, this is perhaps the single most important duty during the entire festival, for the successful completion of this ritual ensures the blessings of the gods and officially opens the parade of floats in an event which draws thousands of visitors to Kyoto. This is the highlight of the month-long Gion Festival.
Slowly the floats begin to roll forward to the applause of the crowd. Two men called ondo-tori, riding in the front, wave their fans and swing their bodies setting a cadence for the fifty men who pull the hoko along, straining against the rope as if in a one-sided tug of war. The role of the ondo-tori is especially important when the twelve-ton, fixed-wheel vehicle negotiates turns along the route.
Photo by Jeremy Hoare
Riding with the chigo are forty men and boys from the neighborhood who have practiced the simple, hypnotic festival music of flutes, gong and drums, for weeks before today. The floats, both large and small, are draped in priceless woven finery, testimony to the wealth of Kyoto’s merchant class since days long past.
The Naginata-boko itself displays a floral carpet from Persia, bold embroideries and a Ming tapestry from China, and an 18th century carpet from Turkey. Some decorations have earned themselves the official title Important Cultural Property. They blend together harmoniously despite their diverse origins, and they speak of the surprising extent of foreign trade in pre-modern Japan.
The Gion Festival originally began as an Emperor’s supplication to the gods, seeking protection from the plagues which decimated the population during the summer months. Over more than a thousand years the festival has transformed from an imperial event to a people’s festival. The original sixty-six floats representing each of the ancient states in Japan have dwindled in number to thirty-four in the contemporary procession.
The procession used to wind its way through the narrow Kyoto streets, purifying the neighborhoods of evil influence. Today, the procession is held on the 17th and 24th, passing through the large avenues of the city center so that largest number of spectators can view them. Even the chigo, or “celestial children” who used to grace each float, have slowly disappeared to be replaced by dolls. Only the Naginata-hoko still retains a live chigo.
In the narrow streets, the floats loom over the passing buildings, their tall masts truly seem to invite the gods to alight to this world. Seen at close proximity, the tapestries and woven treasures make the floats seem majestic, unworldly, and truly capable of mystical powers of healing. Here one can appreciate the value the festival had for the entire community – a joyous means to release their creative energy.
The festive music of Gion Bayashi – “Kon chiki chin” – weaves a mood of excitement around each of the shiplike floats, illuminated on these two nights by paper lanterns. Proud inner city families open their house fronts to display valuable heirlooms to the passing crowds. These can include scrolls, kimono, models of the floats and screen paintings. It is these which lend Yoi Yama another name, The Festival of Screens.
Other festivals in Japan may be more boisterous and more frenzied, but Gion Festival expresses the exuberance of the townspeople while maintaining the decorum and reserve of this imperial capital.