Festive Kyoto

The whole weekend had been very rainy, and word from friends who went to see the Gion Matsuri (festival) on Sunday was that it was too crowded to move more than a couple blocks in two hours’ time. I had been looking forward to the festival for many weeks and felt determined to go, no matter how tired I was, how rainy the skies were or how crowded the streets were. I had my yukata and I’d arranged to only work six days that week to make it happen. I was going. I picked up my friend Sabine from the station, we got ready, and headed out. On our way, we saw SO many people in yukata…it was like the city had been transformed and reminded me of Halloween, except that everyone was dressing with the same theme in mind.

We got there to discover that it wasn’t nearly as crowded as we’d heard (although I heard reports later that there were about 400,000 people all total in that one square kilometer area over the course of the three days). The streets were closed to traffic. The floats were all prepared for the parade the next day, draped in tapestries, covered in strung-up glowing lanterns, and emanating music played by the young men up on the second story.

We were actually allowed to go into a nearby house, (take off our shoes, of course), climb the stairs to the second floor, and cross a bridge leading up into one of the floats. It was a great view and beautiful feeling to be that close to the bells and drums.

We avoided the main streets and kept to the smaller side streets, drinking a beer and sharing a grilled squid-on-a-stick. There were all kinds of food stands with candied fruit, chocolate-covered bananas, grilled meats, and all kinds of unfamiliar delicacies.

There were also plenty of games with prizes. My favorite to watch was a wide tank full of fish, where you are given a small scoop with a net made of thin paper. You scoop up as many fish into your bag as you can until the net becomes soaked and is ripped open by the wriggling fish. You get to keep the fish, and not wanting that responsibility, we didn’t actually play, ourselves.

The other remarkable occurrence is that many homes in the area were allowing visitors to come inside and see their treasures. These included ancient paintings, split doorway curtains, tapestries, painted screens, flower arrangements, small sculptures, and other antiquities. We filed in to a few hallways to view some of these, sometimes finding small shrines in the back as well.

Just asking in one doorway to use the bathroom, I followed a few people down a long dark alley to where it opened up, revealing a displayed tapestry that was over 1000 years old! It had threads of spun gold and other materials, depicting a double dragon. Good thing I’d had that beer and had to relieve myself, or I’d never have seen it!

The other nice surprise was a compliment on my knot. The yukata has a belt, called an "obi," that you are supposed to tie in a particular way. Following the diagrams from my receipt, I did my best at home. Apparently I did alright because more than one person was impressed. But then again, Japanese people are often impressed that Westerners can even use chopsticks, so it could have been a comment more on the novelty than my actual skill!

To see more photos from the festival, click HERE. As always, you can click on them to enlarge them or right-click to save them.