ブラジル祭り２０１０



Japan has a very large Brazilian community, mainly second generation returnees of the Japanese immigrants who went to Brazil in the early 20th century after Japan had impoverished itself in winning the Russo-Japanese War. The boom years of the 1980s brought their children and grandchildren back to Japan, but to a culture completely different to the one they were raised in.

Nevertheless, despite the cultural divide between Japanese born here and Brazilian Japanese, the latter are permitted to stay here and are able to get permanent residency much more easily than foreigners without Japanese ancestry.

Tokyo is of course home to a large percentage of the Brazilians in Japan, and Yoyogi Park sees the Brazil Festival every year, which is no holds barred celebration of Brazilian high spirits. The rhythms are infectious, and some of the dancing is like you've never seen before.

The festival took place on the ninth of this month. It has taken 10 days or so to get in gear and produce the video. Here it is. Click, and you have no choice but to ... enjoy!

© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service
Japanese Friends
Tokyo Apartments Search
Japan Job Search
Rough Guide To Japan
Tags
Japan
Tokyo
Brazil
festival
Yoyogi

田県神社の豊年祭,　犬山、愛知県

The 2010 Tagata Jinja Fertility Festival takes places on March 15 and is one of Japan's most celebrated "Phallic Festivals". Fifteen years ago there were a few hundred bemused spectators watching the procession and the whole event was very much a subdued local affair.





Nowadays a vast, boisterous crowd of both Japanese and foreign visitors watch the 2.5m, newly-carved 300kg wooden phallus being carried on a mikoshi (portable shrine), by teams of 12 men, the 1.5km between Kumano Shrine and Tagata Shrine near Inuyama, just outside Nagoya.

The procession reaches Tagata Shrine about 4pm for the literal climax of the day's events. A small portable shrine carries a wooden representation of Takeinadene-no-mikoto, the male deity visiting his female counterpart (and wife) Tamahime-no-mikoto, who is enshrined at Tagata Jinja. Next comes the huge phallus which is placed in the shrine for another year, the old phallus being sold off.

Access

To get to Tagata Jinja take a Meitetsu train from Nagoya Station or Kanayama Station to Inuyama. Change to a Meitetsu Komaki Line train leaving from platform 3 and go threee stops to Tagata Jinja Mae. Turn left out of the station and then left again at the main road. Tagata Jinja is about 400m on your right. To reach Kumano Shrine turn right out of Tagata Jinja, cross over the main road and Kumano Jinja is on your left as you climb the hill after crossing over the railway line.
Alternatively take the Tsurumai Subway Line to Kami Otai and change to a Meitetsu Line train to Inuyama and then the Komaki Line to Tagata Jinja Mae.

Ogata Shrine (Tel: 0568 67 1017) is a ten minute walk, turning right out of Gakuden Station on the Meitetsu Komaki Line.

© JapanVisitor.com

Kagura Masks

Festival Happi coats

Tags

Japan Tagata Jinja Inuyama Phallus Shrine Nagoya Japan Festival Aichi

儺負人選定式

I've just got back from Konomiya, where the pillar-raising ceremony and the naoinin or shin-otoko selection ceremony has just taken place.

A new wooden pillar (shime-bashira) with the words naoi shinji is erected in front of the main gateway (mon) to the shrine on the second day of the lunar new year.



This year four candidates appeared to be selected by lot for the dubious "honor" of being chosen as the shin-otoko for this year's Konomiya Hadaka Festival.

Konomiya's Hadaka Matsuri is a mass purification rite and has its origins in an attempt to dispel an outbreak of plague in 767. Upto 10,000 men dressed only in white loin-clothes will attend on the main day of the festival.



The Konomiya Hadaka (Naked) Festival takes place this year on February 26.
Konomiya is small town just outside Nagoya and the first stop on the Meitetsu express train from Nagoya Station to Gifu.



Access: Take a Meitetsu Line train from Nagoya Station bound for Gifu to Konomiya Station (north exit and then a short 3-minute walk) or a JR Tokaido Line train from Nagoya Station to Inazawa Station and then a 15-minute walk to Konomiya shrine.

Konomiya Shrine
1-1-1 Konomiya, Inazawa city
Tel: 0587 23 2121

Kagura Masks

Festival Happi coats

Tags

Japan Naked Festival Hadaka Matsuri Nagoya Japan Festivals Konomiya

国府宮神社の裸祭り

The Konomiya Hadaka (Naked) Festival takes place this year on February 26.

Konomiya is small town just outside Nagoya and the first stop on the Meitetsu express train from Nagoya Station to Gifu.



Like many festivals in Japan, Hadaka Matsuri has its roots in an attempt to dispel an outbreak of plague, when the local governor of Owari (present-day Aichi Prefecture) started the rite in 767. The boisterous behavior has sometimes got out of hand and lead to riots in the 16th century. Upto 10,000 semi-naked men usually attend and the crush and subsequent frenzy can be pretty scary.

The festival has a number of defined stages.

On the second day of the lunar new year a post marked with the words "naoi shinji" is set up outside Konomiya Shrine, this will happen this year on February 15.

An hour later at 10am a group of applicants arrive in the hope of being selected as that year's shin-otoko or ("god-man"). To be chosen as shin-otoko is considered a great honor, though a strange one in most people's eyes in view of what is to follow.



A huge 4-ton rice-cake (mochi) is prepared and is presented to the shin-otoko on the eve of the main festival. For three days prior to the start of the matsuri the shin-otoko is kept alone, enclosed in a small hall in Konomiya Shrine. He is fed only rice-gruel and water and has all his body hair shaved off as part of the purification rite.

The festival begins in mid-afternoon on the 13th day of the lunar new year when thousands of men dressed only in loincloths carry a bamboo pole covered with pieces of paper carrying the excuses of people who couldn't make it to the festival that year.

When the shin-otoko appears from the shrine the assembled men - many of them aged 23 or 42 (ages considered unlucky or yakudoshi) - converge on the shin-otoko in an effort to touch him and thus pass on their bad luck and so rid themselves of evil.

The shin-otoko's guards, who attempt to stop him getting killed in the crush, throw cold water on the crowds to help cool things down. The event can be dangerous and people have suffered injuries in the past.



At 3am the next morning the shin-otoko carrying a "mud cake" on his back - symbolizing bad luck and calamity is chased away from the shrine and the mud cake is buried by the shrine priests. This part of the festival is known as yonaoi shinji.

Later that morning the large rice cake presented earlier is cut up and distributed to worshippers. Eating the rice cake is supposed to ward off illness and misfortune.

Access: Take a Meitetsu Line train from Nagoya Station bound for Gifu to Konomiya Station (north exit and then a short 3-minute walk) or a JR Tokaido Line train from Nagoya Station to Inazawa Station and then a 15-minute walk to Konomiya shrine.

Konomiya Shrine
1-1-1 Konomiya, Inazawa city
Tel: 0587 23 2121

Kagura Masks

Festival Happi coats

Tags

Japan Naked Festival Hadaka Matsuri Nagoya Japan Festivals Konomiya

さっぽろ雪まつり

The Sapporo Snow Festival starts today and will run until 11th February. The opening ceremony begins at 6.30pm at Minami 4 Nishi 4.



The main sites for the various ice and snow sculptures are: Odori Park, Tsudome and Susukino - the main entertainment area of Sapporo.



As well as the amazing ice sculptures, other entertainments include an "Ice Queen" contest (held in Susukino, of course), snow slides and mazes and lots of great Hokkaido food and drink.

Sapporo Snow Festival 2010
Tel: 011 211 2376



© JapanVisitor

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Tokyo Serviced Apartments

Japanese Friends

The Japanese Spa: A Guide to Japan's Finest Ryokan and Onsen

Tags

Sapporo Snow Festival Hokkaido

ブラジル映画際　東京　大阪



Brazilian cinema comes to Tokyo today, and to Osaka on the 10th. Comedy, documentary, drama, the scope is wide. A total of 28 films from Brazil will be showing between the 3rd and 9th of October at the Tsutaya Theater in Shibuya, and between the 10th and 16th of October at Osaka's Cine Nouveau near Hanshin-Kujo and Kujo stations (in the Osaka Dome area).

Check out the details below (click to enlarge.)


See the recent Brazil Festival in Tokyo.


© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Japanese Friends

Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Japan Tokyo Osaka Brazil cinema

名古屋まつり

Listen to the sound of Nagoya Festival

The upcoming weekend of 3-4 October sees the annual Nagoya Festival, the 55th festival so far.



Nagoya's biggest festival takes place over two days in various parts of the city, including daily parades of large floats with around 700 participants in period samurai costume parading down Otsu dori celebrating Japan's and Chubu's three great medieval warlords: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Other events include marching bands, flower parades, open-car parades, kagura, and lots of children's activities. Representatives from Nagoya's sister cities of Los Angeles, Mexico City, Nanjing, Sydney and Turin will be present and there are stage performances from artists from the various sister cities.



Events take place outside City Hall, Nagoya Station, Nagoya Castle, at Oasis 21 and even small side events at Chubu International Airport - Nagoya's main gateway to the outside world.




Guide To Nagoya

Buy Festival Happi Coats

Nagoya Festival Homepage (Japanese)

Tags

Nagoya Festival Nagoya Festival Matsuri

ブラジル　祭り　東京



Japan, and Tokyo especially, has a huge Brazilian community, mainly made up of Brazilians of Japanese descent. The annual Brazil Festival in Tokyo turns the Jingumae area of Shibuya ward into Brazil for a day with the kind of let-your-hair-down party atmosphere that just doesn't happen anywhere else in Japan.

The air is filled with the scent of great food cooking, the sound of get-up-and-dance rhythms, and the whoops and laughter of a crowd that won't stop having fun.

There were performances happening on stage, but unlike most events of this kind, the real buzz was amongst the crowd - wherever you were - and the music coming from stage was just one more sight and sound to fuel the party spirit.

The sun smiled on the day - making a pleasant change from a very cloudy summer for Tokyo in 2009 - and all those present laughed along with it.

Check out the YouTube video of footage from this year's Brazilian Festival in Tokyo.


© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Japanese Friends

Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Japan Tokyo Brazil festival Shibuya

錦糸町　お祭り



I stayed this weekend at an address in Kinshicho, a relatively impoverished town in Tokyo's east end. I was awoken Sunday by what I thought first was a crow. As I listened, I realized it was human: a constant, strident, parade-ground-type shouting of a single voice, repeating the same words over and over.

I blearily went out onto the veranda to see what the commotion was, and was surprised to see a festival in full - but somehow listless - swing, with scores of men shouldering a large, ornate omikoshi portable Shinto shrine down a deserted backstreet.

I say "surprised," because the yelling that had woken me up did not suggest a festival. The sounds of Japanese festivals are group sounds, with the loud chanting of "Wasshoi!" all in unison, and the commotion of the crowd following. This, rather, was the lone, unpleasant, amplified voice that conjured up a villainous harangue in an old war movie rather than a scene of neighborhood festivity.

The shouter was a middle-aged man wearing a huge, white megaphone, who led the procession, walking backwards hollering at it in his ugly, incessant staccato. Strangely, the "revelers" were almost silent, rhythmically hoisting the omikoshi, but with little vigor, delegating what should have been the communal festive voice to the cawing of the "sergeant major."

Stranger still, there was no one following the procession, besides an old homeless man carting his few worldly possessions and mumbling to himself, and a garbage truck: both parties, I presume, just happening to be there when I looked out.

So there it was: an almost silent crowd of seemingly duty-bound shrine-bearers following a fascist with a bullhorn down a deserted backstreet overhung by a grimy overhead highway with hardly anyone in tow outside the happi-wearing core of listless "revelers."

And that pink afro wig?!

I shot a little footage, rubbed my eyes, and went back to bed, to dream something a little sweeter.

© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Japanese Friends

Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Japan Tokyo Kinshicho festival

フジロックフェスティバル'09

The line up for this year's Fuji Rock Festival July 23-26th includes Oasis, Paul Weller, Patti Smith, Weezer, Public Enemy, Franz Ferdinand, and many more.

This year's theme is 'global warming/natural energy', 'biodiversity' and 'human rights.'



Tickets are 39,800 for the three days or 16,800 for one day. A one-day car park pass is 3,000 yen as is a camp site ticket on Naeba Ski Resort. Bicycles and motor bikes are free to park. Naeba Onsen hot spring can be used for a fee.

Access

JR Echigo Yuzawa Station is the nearest shinkansen station (90 mins from Tokyo Station)
A free shuttle bus service runs for all ticket holders between the station and the festival site.

© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a hotel in Japan with Bookings

Japan Friends

Tags

Fuji Rock Rock Festival

祇園祭

Listen to the sound of Gion Matsuri

Kyoto's Gion Matsuri takes place throughout the month of July with something happening nearly every day.

Gion Matsuri began over a thousand years ago to placate Susano-o no Mikoto, the god of wind and water in an effort to halt a devasting plague that was sweeping the country. The gorgeous floats were traditionally maintained by merchant guilds (now neighborhood associations) who vied with each other to produce the most ostentatious show of kazari (decoration).

The main event and climax of the festival is the yamaboko junko, a procession of 32 giant, decorated floats (23 yama and 9 hoko) through the streets on July 17th. On the preceding evenings of July 14-16th, the floats are illuminated by lanterns and nearby houses display their family heirlooms. This part of the festival is known as Gion Bayashi with the evening of the July 16th (Yoiyama) the most significant, when thousands of people dressed in summer yukata take to the pedestrianized streets of downtown Kyoto to view the floats amid the constant festival music of flutes, drums and bells.




On July 10th, there is a welcoming ceremony for the floats (omukae chochin) when the festival lanterns are carried in a procession and later that evening in a festival known as mikoshi arai - the sacred palaquins are washed on Shijo Bridge.

After the main procession on July 17th which lasts from around 9am-1pm, three palaquins are taken from Gion's Yasaka Shrine at 6.30pm and brought to Shijo Otabisho just off Teramachi Street, south of Shijo Street. This is known as the shinko-sai.



On July 24th, hanagasa-junko is a procession of dancers including maiko (geisha) and children in traditional costume. This begins at 10pm and proceeds around the downtown area. At 5pm the three palaquins are returned to Yasaka Shrine from Teramachi in a tradition called kanko-sai.

Mikoshi-arai is the formal conclusion of the festival on July 28th and sees the floats cleaned again on Shijo Bridge before returning to Yasaka Shrine until next year.

On July 31th, a nagoshi-no-harai purification rite is held at Yasaka Shrine with visitors passing through an arch of sacred grasses. This ritual is usually performed at the end of June at other shrines around the country.


Images: Jake Davies

© JapanVisitor


Japan Friends

Happi Coats

Japanese For Busy People

Tags

Gion Matsuri Japanese festivals Kyoto

ワン・ラヴ・ジャマイカ・フェスティバル　2009年

The One Love Jamaica Festival has been an annual fixture in Tokyo at least since 2007.
It ran both days last weekend, 9 and 10 May.



The biggest attraction was, obviously, the music, and the sound shell stage at Yoyogi Park was pumping it out.
There were stalls by the dozen selling food and booze - a lot of it Jamaican-inspired.



Besides the ubiquitous, day-long reggae music from off the stage, there was a Jamaica travel exhibition,
an art event featuring live painting, and a Jamaica photography exhibition.



The weather smiled on the One Love Jamaica Festival. It was sunny, warm, and still not too humid.

The One Love Jamaica Festival is set to run again in 2010 at Yoyogi Park.

© JapanVisitor

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Book the Ginza Kokusai Hotel Tokyo

Tokyo Serviced Apartments

Japanese Friends

Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Japan Tokyo Kyoto Jamaica festival reggae

神田明神

Kanda Myojin Shrine in the Kanda district of Tokyo is not far from Ochanomizu Station. Formally known as Kanda Jinja, the complex enshrines the deities for 108 Tokyo neighborhoods including Akihabara, Kanda, Nihombashi and Tsukiji Fish Market.



People come here to pray for the usual success in business, good health and happy marriage. There are large statues of the Shinto favorites Daikoku, Ebisu, and Taira-no-Masakado.

The shrine's origins go back to 730, though Kanda Myojin on its present site dates from 1603, when Tokugawa Ieyasu expanded Edo Castle and moved the shrine to Kanda.



The 17th century wooden buildings were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and were then rebuilt in concrete - the shrine survived the fire-bombing of Tokyo in World War II, as a result. The wooden Zuishin Gate was rebuilt after the war using cypress (hinoki) and restorations have continued until recently on other buildings in the shrine complex.

Kanda Myojin is the home shrine of the Kanda Matsuri, which is held every two years in May with horen (imperial palanquins) and mikoshi (portable shrines) paraded through the neighborhood. A smaller parade takes place in the intervening years.



Access

Kanda Myojin
Chiyoda-ku, Sotokanda 2-16-2
101-0021
Tel: 03 3254 0753

Take a Chuo & Sobu Line train to Ochanomizu Station (Higiri Bridge Exit) or a
Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku Line train to Akihabara Station (Denkigai Exit) and then a short 5-7 minute walk. Alternatively, ride a subway to either Ochanomizu or Akihabara statons. A Toei bus also passes close to the shrine.


Yahoo Japan Auction Service


Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Japanese shrines Tokyo Japanese festivals

Click to Play

The annual phallic Kanamara festival is taking place this Sunday April 5 in Kawasaki, outside Tokyo.



The festival dates from the Edo Period when Kawasaki's ladies of the pleasure quarters instituted this celebration of the phallus both to encourage trade and to pray for protection from syphilis.

Today the main purpose of the festival is to pray for the conception of a healthy child. The previous preoccupation with syphilis has been replaced with the AIDS awareness campaign.

Large numbers of foreigners come to take part.

Access

The festival is held at Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine in Kawasaki. From Shinagawa Station in Tokyo take a Keihin Kyuko train in the direction of Yokohama. Change at Keikyu Kawasaki Station to the Daishi Line train and ride three stations to Kawasaki Daishi Station.

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Book the Ginza Kokusai Hotel Tokyo

Tokyo Serviced Apartments

Japanese Friends

Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Kawasaki Kanamara phallic Japanese festival

ぎふ梅まつり

This time of year in Japan sees the first mass "flower viewing" of the calendar. The blossomings of the nation's plum trees are an early harbinger of spring and people flock in their thousands to see the colorful plum (ume) flowers in gardens, temples and parks across the nation.

Gifu city's 57th annual (plum) ume festival took place at the weekend in Bairin Park, a short bus ride or 30 minute stroll from either JR Gifu Station or Meitetsu Gifu Station.



There were the usual festival food stalls in evidence in the park: okonomiyaki pancakes, takoyaki octopus balls, fried potatoes, fried corn, yakisoba (fried noodles) and squid on a stick. Besides the permanently parked steam locomotive in Bairin Park other attractions to lure visitors to attend and maybe splash their cash a bit were puppet shows, chindonya, musical performances, bonzai displays and rickshaw rides.



The stalls spread throughout the surrounding streets as housewives and tradespeople set out their local delicacies and crafts for sale.

Zuiryoji Temple near Bairin Park was particularly beautiful with its large pink plum blossoms in full bloom.



Gifu Plum Blossom Festival
Bairin Park
Tel: 058 240 6530

© Japan Visitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Book the Ginza Kokusai Hotel Tokyo

Tokyo Serviced Apartments

Japanese Friends

Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Gifu Plum Japanese festival Nagoya ume

さっぽろ雪まつり

The Sapporo Snow Festival is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.



This year the world famous event runs for seven days from February 5-February 11.

The three main sites for the various ice and snow sculptures are: Odori Park, Tsudome and Susukino - the latter the main entertainment area of Sapporo.

Besides the fantastic ice sculptures, other entertainments include an "Ice Queen" contest (held in Susukino, of course), snow slides and mazes and lots of great Hokkaido food and drink.

Sapporo Snow Festival 2009
Tel: 011 211 2376

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Tokyo Serviced Apartments

Japanese Friends

The Japanese Spa: A Guide to Japan's Finest Ryokan and Onsen

Tags

Sapporo Snow+Festival Hokkaido

有松山車祭り

I went back to see the Arimatsu Festival yesterday, as the main parade was washed out and was rearranged for yesterday.



I'm glad I made the effort as the festival was a lot of fun especially the amazing karakuri mechanized puppets on top of the huge floats. The old man karakuri sticking out his tongue was amusing.

Arimatsu is a small post-town on the ancient Tokaido highway (now National Route 1)between Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo) and is well-known for its high quality shibori (tie-dye) products including happi coats, kimono, bags and handkerchiefs.

Arimatsu Festival is held on the first Sunday of October each year and rearranged for the following Sunday in case of rain. To get to Arimatsu take a Meitetsu train from Nagoya, Kanayama or Horita stations.

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a hotel in Japan with Bookings

Tokyo Serviced Apartments

Japan Friends

Happi Coats

Japanese For Busy People

Tags

Arimatsu Japan festival Nagoya

有松祭り

Last Sunday I went to see the annual Arimatsu Festival, though the main parade was washed out and has been rearranged for tomorrow.



Arimatsu is a small post-town on the ancient Tokaido highway between Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo) and is famous for its high quality shibori (tie-dye) products. Some beautiful historic merchant houses still remain, which are used as showrooms for Arimatsu shibori fabrics.

The festival consists of a procession of large, ornate floats pulled through the streets, accompanied by flute and drum music. The floats have intricately-made karakuri dolls attached to them and "dance" in time to the music. The locally produced karakuri automatons are a testament to the engineering skills of the Chubu area (Toyota cars are made here & the Zero Sen plane in WWII) and remain the main attraction of the festival. The dolls, one of which can even write, are operated by unseen hands within the float.

Arimatsu Festival is held on the first Sunday of October. To get to Arimatsu take a Meitetsu train from Nagoya, Kanayama or Horita stations.

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a hotel in Japan with Bookings

Tokyo Serviced Apartments

Japan Friends

Happi Coats

Japanese For Busy People

Tags

Arimatsu Japan festival Nagoya

祇園祭

Listen to the sound of Gion Matsuri

Kyoto's Gion Matsuri is the city's most important festival and there are related events taking place throughout the month of July.

The main event is the yamaboko junko, a procession of 32 giant, decorated floats (23 yama and 9 hoko) through the streets on July 17th. On the preceding evenings of July 14-16th, the floats are illuminated by lanterns and nearby houses display their family heirlooms. This part of the festival is known as Gion Bayashi with the evening of the July 16th (Yoiyama) the most significant, when thousands of people dressed in summer yukata take to the pedestrianized streets of downtown Kyoto to view the floats amid the constant festival music of flutes, drums and bells.




On July 10th, there is a welcoming ceremony for the floats (omukae chochin) when the festival lanterns are carried in a procession and later that evening in a festival known as mikoshi arai - the sacred palaquins are washed on Shijo Bridge.

After the main procession on July 17th which lasts from 9am-1pm, three palaquins are taken from Gion's Yasaka Shrine at 6.30pm and taken to Shijo Otabisho just off Teramachi Street, south of Shijo Street. This is known as the shinko-sai.



On July 24th, hanagasa-junko is a procession of dancers including maiko (geisha) and children in traditional costume. This begins at 10pm and proceeds around the downtown area. At 5pm the three palaquins are returned to Yasaka Shrine from Teramachi in a tradition called kanko-sai.

Mikoshi-arai is the formal conclusion of the festival on July 28th and sees the floats cleaned again on Shijo Bridge before returning to Yasaka Shrine until next year.

On July 31th, a nagoshi-no-harai purification rite is held at Yasaka Shrine with visitors passing through an arch of sacred grasses. This ritual is usually performed at the end of June at other shrines around the country.

Gion Matsuri began over a thousand years ago to placate Susano-o no Mikoto, the god of wind and water in an effort to halt a devasting plague that was sweeping the country. The gorgeous floats were traditionally maintained by merchant guilds (now neighborhood associations) who vied with each other to produce the most ostentatious show of kazari (decoration).

Images: Jake Davies


Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a hotel in Japan with Bookings

Tokyo Serviced Apartments

Japan Friends

Happi Coats

Japanese For Busy People

Tags

Gion Matsuri Japanese festivals Kyoto