Gion Parade

The day after our night out, many friends and co-workers came to meet Sabine and I in downtown Kyoto for the parade of floats.

Historically, there was a plague killing many Japanese almost 1200 years ago, and the emperor at the time believed that praying to the god of the Yasaka shrine (located in the Gion district of Kyoto) would put an end to it all. A ceremony was devised and representations of the 66 different regions marched from the Shinsen-en Garden (see the next post above for more on that) to the shrine. Miracualously, the plague came to a stop not long after, and the ceremony was repeated whenever Japan faced a major catastrophe. Eventually, it was done preventatively, and the parade became a tradition.

One of the marvels of the parade was the engineering required at the time to turn corners. As the wheels only move forward and don't turn at all, they had to come up with something else. They lay down rows of bamboo perpendicular to the front wheels, grease them up, roll the wheels forward onto them, tie a rope around the wheel and pull/push the float along the perpendicular track of the bamboo. It takes a looooong time to do, even today, as it's a painstaking process that requires about 30 men or so.

The other noteworthy things about the parade is that in modern times, it is a mark of status to be "chosen" to be riding on the floats. The boys and their families pay the equivalent of $100,000.00 to ride on it for one parade!

Pulling the floats, however, can be done by just about anyone, including foreigners. Perhaps you'll see me out there next year...

Parade day photos can be seen HERE.