Gion Matsuri
Gion Fesrival (Kyoto, Kyoto city, Higashiyama-ku, Yasaka shrine)

July 1-31

Kyoto in July is filled with the atmosphere of the Gion Matsuri festival. This great festival is held between July 1 to 31 during which time a lot of events are held. The highlights are the "Yoiyama", a night festival held on July 16th, and the "Yama-boko junko", a parade of floats on July 17th. The origin of the festival goes back to the year 869 A.D., when an epidemic spread through Kyoto. The people erected 66 "hoko" (double-axe-headed military spears) of 6 m height at the Yasaka shrine, in order to pray that the epidemic would soon decline. The number 66 is the one that represents the number of Lordships that existed in Japan at that time. Yasaka shrine is known as the place where the Emperor Gozu was enshrined. On the night of "Yoiyama", 32 superb floats elaborately decorated with lanterns are paraded through the town of Kyoto. Musicians wearing "yukata", summer "kimono" suitably made of cotton for the hot summer weather, play rhythmical "Gion bayashi" music. The private houses along the streets open their doors to show their family treasures such as "byobu (traditional folding screens)" to the people passing by their houses in the parade. This is why this night is also called the "Byobu Matusri" festival. The most exciting event is the "Yama-boko Junko" which is held on the following day. The 32 floats are again paraded through the streets. At the head of the parade is the beautiful "Naginata-boko" float, that is 26 m high with a "hoko" installed on the top to drive away the epidemic. Because the floats are so big and heavy, bunches of bamboo are spread at each street corner to help the floats make a turn. This technique is called "tsuji-mawashi". When the float comes to a street corner, all the men must try very hard in order to change the direction of the float. This is just one of the exciting spectacles that add to the attractions of the "Yama-boko junko".

Tenjin Matsuri
Tenjin Festival (Osaka, Oasaka city, Kita-ku, Tenjinbashi, Osaka Tenmangu-shurin)

July 24-25

The "Tenjine Matsuri" festival is the representative summer festival of Osaka. This festival is held to drive out the evil sprits of summer and as a requiem for the soul of Sugawara-no-Michizane, a leading Court scholar of the Heian era (AD 794 - 1185). The "Hoko nagashi shinji", a ritual "hoko" floating ceremony starts at half past eight on the morning of May 24th. This ceremony used to be held to decide where the "otabisho (a resting place for the god)" of the year would be installed depending on the place to which the "hoko" drifted after being released on the river to float downstream. Nowadays the "otabisho" location is fixed, so the event has become simply a ritual ceremony. The highlight of the "Tenjin Matsuri" is the "moyooshi daiko", six men dressed in red, white and blue costumes and called "ganji" sit in two rows facing each other on a drum float and beat out ten different drum rhythms. The float is carried by more than a hundred men. In the evening of May 25th, a parade consisting of three thousand people wearing "samurai" costume starts out from the Tenman-gu shrine. At the Tenjin Bridge they all get into 130 boats, the leading one of which carries a portable shrine. The Tenjin Matsuri is then celebrated as a thousand fireworks are launched into the Osaka night sky.

Kasuga Wakamiya On-matsuri
Festival of Kasuga Wakamiya shrine
(Nara, Nara city, Kasugano town, Kasuga Taisha shrine)

December 15-18

This is one of the great traditional festivals of Japan. Its origin goes back to the year 1136. In those days people often suffered from epidemics and starvation caused by the heavy rains and floods. Fujiwara-no-Tadanori, the chief adviser to the Emperor, invited the god of the "Wakamiya" shrine to the Angu palace and respectfully performed rituals in order to ward off disasters. The Wakamiya shrine belongs to the Kasuga Taisha shrine complex and the god has the power to drive away epidemics and protect against evil sprits. The festival starts at midnight on December 16th. Shinto priests and a symbolic representation of the god of the Wakamiya shrine which is covered by a white cloth, form a procession that is led by sacred fire. At one o'clock in the afternoon of the following day, a parade starts out from the City Hall and proceeds to the "otabisho" where the god is temporarily enshrined for the duration of the festival. The people are dressed in the costumes of the Heian and Kamakura eras (9th to 13th centuries). The group that leads the parade is the hosts of the festival. The second group is composed of "miko" or shrine maidens. The third group is a troupe of traditional dancers and the fourth group consists of the dancers who will perform the traditional "noh" dance. A total of twelve groups walk in the parade to the Wakamiya shrine where they will entertain the festival merrymakers.