Tag: Gion Matsuri

Corona and Gion Festival

July 21, 2020 / John D. / 0 Comments

Normally at this time the Gion Matsuri would be filling Kyoto’s streets, but irony of ironies this year it is not taking place. What’s the irony? Well, it’s a festival that originated and was perpetuated in a desire to dispel pestilence. Just when it’s needed most, you might think, the festival has been cancelled because of Corona.

Dating back to 869, the month-long event has been called the oldest urban festival in the world. It climaxes in two parades of stunning floats, though there is far more to it than that. On Sunday, an account of its astonishingly rich diversity was given in a talk for Writers in Kyoto by Catherine Pawasarat, who has a book coming out in August detailing the whole festival.

There are 34 floats in all, and as an indication of the extraordinary wealth of material involved here is an excerpt from Catherine’s forthcoming book focussing on one single float, the Urade Yama.

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Urade Yama 占出山: featuring Empress Jingū
(by Catherine Pawasarat)

Urade Yama shows the third-century Japanese shamaness ruler known as Empress Jingū using fishing as a divining method. She asked the gods to send a fish to let her know if she’d be victorious on a journey to the land of Silla, part of the modern-day Korean peninsula. This took place on Kyushu Island in western Japan. Closest to the Korean peninsula, Kyushu was home to many settlements of immigrants from the ancient kingdoms that predated Korea.

This float’s name, Urade, means roughly, “prophesize and go forth.” Japan’s most ancient texts say Empress Jingū caught a fish, and consequently traveled to Silla [with an army]. With several gods on her side, the texts tell us, she “conquered” it without fighting. She returned to Japan with abundant tribute.

Besides Urade Yama, Fune Boko (“Ship Float”) represents Jingū’s ship on its way to Silla, and Ōfune Boko (“Great Ship Float”) is the ship returning, heavy with gifts. One can’t help but wonder whether it was this remarkable woman’s magnetism that enabled her to win such gains without a battle.

Urade Yama’s display area, part of a Shinto shrine

But Urade Yama’s Empress Jingū is prepared for battle, giving us a taste of Japan’s little-known but intriguing history of women warriors, onna-bugeisha. Both the swords she wears are on display in the treasure area before the July 17 procession. The original katana sword is a National Treasure crafted in the tenth century by the legendary Sanjō Munechika, who also created Naginata Boko’s mystical longsword.

Urade Yama’s kaisho treasure display area is unique in that it’s located in the lovely, often peaceful courtyard of a sizable Shintō Shrine. This shrine and courtyard are only open during the Gion Festival, for Urade Yama. The treasures include textiles depicting Japan’s 36 Immortal Poets and its three most famous scenic places, as well as the sweetfish that foretold Jingū’s fate. In textiles based on designs by Maruyama-Shijō school artist, Suzuki Hyakunen, Korean officials and soldiers puzzle at waters encroaching because of divine tide-controlling jewels Empress Jingū used to land victoriously in Silla.

Empress Jingū is famous for being pregnant during her bold adventures in Silla, and for giving birth to a healthy baby boy, the next emperor, Ōjin (see Hachiman Yama), on her return. Therefore she’s considered a protectress of safe childbirth, and amulets are sold here for the same. Over the centuries aristocratic Japanese women used Urade Yama talismans wrapped against their growing bellies to help ensure safe childbirth. After a healthful birth, they gifted their own precious kimono to the deity and her float in gratitude. Thanks to this tradition, at Urade Yama we can see what kind of kimono Japanese empresses and princesses have worn over the centuries. Passed down through generations, the quality and number of kimono a woman had are still considered a measure of wealth. This makes Empress Jingū and Urade Yama wealthy indeed.

(Immigrants from the modern-day Korean peninsula were highly respected in earliest Japanese history. They brought with them technologies like fermentation, ceramic kilns and temple architecture, knowledge like Chinese writing and law, and many other valuable resources. The sacred statue of Empress Jingu wears a noh costume and mask, and holds a curved fishing rod.)

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For full coverage of the festival, check out Catherine’s website here. For previous Green Shinto postings, see here, here or here.

Look closely to appreciate the quality
of Urade Yama’s luxurious aristocratic
kimono.

Gion Festival 2017 leaflet

July 17, 2017 / John D. / 0 Comments

The highlight of today’s parade is the turning of the fixed wheel ‘hoko’ floats at Kyoto’s main intersection

This year’s Gion Festival happened to coincide with a three-day weekend, thanks to the public holiday today (July 17, the day of the main procession). It meant extra large crowds and extra large numbers of police, who for the first time on the Yoiyama evening insisted on one-way directions for the milling throng. In methodical Japanese fashion, anyone heading the wrong way against the flow of people was quickly hauled out and pointed in the right direction.

One of the protective ‘chimaki’ talisman on sale

The crowds were also noticeable for the increased number of foreigners this year. On a rough count, I estimated around every twentieth person was non-Japanese. And at least one of the salesman at the ‘yatai’ stalls was a foreigner with a Kansai accent, doing a brisk business with stretch ice-cream.

Because of the increased numbers of tourists, the authorities have gone out of their way to make the festival more appealing by adding features such as small theatre shows and maiko serving beer in front of Yasaka Shrine. For non-Japanese there was also a very useful free leaflet being handed out in English with one of the best festival explanations I’ve seen.

A colourful map gives an overview of the 33 floats and their locations (each downtown neighbourhood maintains and exhibits its own float). There are also detailed explanations of aspects of the festival, such as the special music called Gion Bayashi. This is played with gong, drum and flute. Musicians begin practising when young, mastering all three instruments, and the power of their playing is said to be an important element of the festival.

Another item covered is the ‘chimaki’ protective amulets attached to the front of houses to ward off pestilence during the year. The origin is said to date from when the deity Susanoo lodged overnight at the home of Somin Shorai. Though his family were poor, they gave Susanoo warm hospitality, and in return the deity promised their descendants protection from disease, offering them a bundle of cogon grass to wear around the waist. As a result, cogon grass is used today for the protective ‘chimaki’.

Overview of the 10 floats, with descriptions, that are involved in the Ato-Matsuri (on July 24)

The leaflet also notes that folding screens and scrolls are on display in some of the old houses (though I’m told the number of such displays is greatly reduced as a result of people ‘misbehaving’ by touching exhibits, crossing lines, or shouting in drunken manner etc). Each float also offers for sale its own good luck charm, dedicated to the deity of the float and with its own particular tradition.

Finally, the leaflet gives a detailed description of the two types of floats. One is the Yama, with 14 to 24 carriers, which has a sacred pine tree, a display and carrying poles. The other is the Hoko, which weights 7 to 9 tons and has a long spire like pole stretching up 25 meters from the ground. These floats have large wooden wheels and are pulled by 30-50 people, directed by two men standing on the float itself. Musicians sit on the second floor, and above them are four roof riders who make sure the float steers clear of power lines and other obstacles. Decorative curtains and tapestries hang over the sides.

The distinctive identity and history of each float is neatly given in pages that separate the floats into two parts: firstly, the 23 floats involved today in the Saki-Matsuri (Before Parade on July 17th). Secondly, the ten floats involved in the Ato-Matsuri (After Parade on July 24th).

Four key moments are identified as follows: 1) the festoon cutting ceremony, involving a chigo (sacred child) cutting a straw rope to symbolically represent entering into the spirit world; 2) Lot Check, when each float has to ritually present the document certifying its place in the parade; 3) Float Turning, when bamboo or poles are inserted beneath the fixed wooden wheels of the hoko floats in order to enable them to turn; 4) Disassembly, when after the parade the floats return home and are disassembled to ensure the spirits of disease that have accumulated are not released.

Full marks and gratitude to the Gion Matsuri Yoiyama Council who produced this useful free guide to the annual display of people’s power in the old imperial capital!

The order of floats in the parade is chosen by lottery, and one of the ritual moments in the proceedings is the ‘Lot Check’ when a representative has to show the official document to the authorities.

One of the Chigo (sacred child) that symbolise purity and play an important role in the festival