The Gion Summer Festival is Kyoto’s largest
annual festival. It is a celebration that lasts for the whole
month of July with different events happening.
Gion Summer Festival is an annual
celebration that
lasts for the whole month of July in Kyoto. It is
considered one of the largest and most famous
festivals
in Japan. The summer festival is hosted by the
Yasaka
Shrine. The main attraction is the grand procession of
floats that happens on July 17th called Yamaboko
Junko. These floats can reach up to 25 meters high
and
weight up to 12 tons. The route for the Yamaboko
Junko
is 3 kilometers long. The Gion Festival can be traced
backed to 869 when a plague hit the area and some
attributed it to the deity Gozu Tenno. It was then that
the
Emperor ordered the citizens to pray to the deity
Susanoo no Mikoto at Yasaka Shrine. Gion Festival
has
been held annually since then, but it is not a
combination of festive celebrations and religious
rituals.
Even though it is called Gion Festival it does not
actually
happen in that district. The celebrations, parade and
other activities happen in downtown Kyoto across the
river from the Geisha District. In 2014, the festival had
grown to the point that they decided to bring back a
second parade of floats on July 24, but is much fewer
and smaller than the main one. Three days before
July
17th the streets at night become closed to traffic and
the
festive evenings begin. On July 10 to 14 people can
watch the giant floats be built from scratch without the
use of nails. In the evening on the 17th a procession
of
mikoshi (portable shrines) are carried on the
shoulders
of the participants. The shrine’s deity is enshrined
and
carried from Yasaka Shrine to Otabisho. Then on July
24th the mikoshi return back to Yasaka Shrine.
Please see below for tours that include
Gion Summer Festival:
