Glorious autumn sunshine, Kyoto, and the season for Shinto festivals – what could be finer. Amongst the festivals this weekend was the Taisai (Big Festival) of Yasui Konpira-gu. This is when the kami spirit is transferred temporarily into a … Read the rest
Today it was the turn of Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto to celebrate the autumn moon, though it’s already visibly waning. It’s a new festival, only started recently, and doesn’t have anything like the full programme and traditional atmosphere of … Read the rest
Now that the Gion Festival has come to an end, Kyoto is looking forward to Obon and the days of the dead in mid-August. The highlight of the festival is the Sending Off (Okuribi) of the spirits of the dead … Read the rest
Today being July 24th was an important part of the Gion Matsuri, known as the Kankosai.
From 17:00, the three mikoshi are carried back from Otabisho in Shijo dori back to Yasaka Shrine, and when the mikoshi arrive at … Read the rest
Before its conversion to a ‘purely’ Shinto shrine by Meiji nationalists, Yasaka Jinja in Kyoto was a syncretic miyadera (shrine run by a temple), under the control of the Tendai sect on nearby Mt Hiei. The main deity … Read the rest
The Gion Matsuri goes on! Though the parade is over, the month-long festival continues. The floats have been disassembled and put away for another year, though the mikoshi of Yasaka Jinja are still at their otabisho (resting place) on Shijo … Read the rest
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 … Read the rest
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