Was talking to a couple of my friends in Kyoto and they were talking to me about going to Gion Matsuri. For those who don’t know, Gion Matsuri or Gion Festival that occurs throughout the month of July every year in Kyoto. The high point of the festival takes place today, July 17.
Excerpt from wikipedia;
Kyoto’s downtown area is reserved for pedestrian traffic on the three nights leading up to the massive parade. These nights are known as yoiyama (宵山) on July 16, yoiyoiyama (宵々山) on July 15, and yoiyoiyoiyama (宵々々山) on July 14. The streets are lined with night stalls selling food such as yakitori (barbecued chicken skewers), taiyaki, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, traditional Japanese sweets, and many other culinary delights. Many girls dressed in yukata (summer kimono) walk around the area, carrying with them traditional purses and paper fans.
Talking to my friends about the festival made me feel kinda nostalgic about it prompting me to write up this article. While the festival has various events over the course of July, I was only able to go on two days, July 15 and 16.
Dressed in a yukata that I bought a few days before, I went downtown with about 10 people from my dorm. Here are some pics I took exactly a year ago.
After getting off the train, met another group of friends coincidently and we decided to join up. Ended up with about 20 people (=ﾟωﾟ=;). At this time there still wasn’t that many people yet.
A lot of people crowding around. I’m not tall enough to get a good shot.（；￣Д￣）
Got someone tall enough to take this for me XD
Began walking toward the main location of the festival. A lot more people starting appearing from this point making it hard to take pictures. It was difficult to stand still with a huge crowd walking behind me.
More and more people.
Clear skies. It was really hot though. Sweat a lot even though I was just wearing my yukata.
Was stopped by a cop here to let the cars pass.
7:31
A lot of cops were there. A LOT.
McDonalds taking advantage of the situation. A lot of other restaurants were doing the same thing. It was kinda annoying hearing them all shout into the loudspeakers at the same time.
Lack of trashcans. It became much worse later on.
Float sighted.
Many people came in their kimonos and yukatas. It wasn’t as cooling as I thought it’d be though. Should have worn shorts XD
By this time there were too many people and we had to split up our groups into smaller ones.
More floats.
Being one of Japan’s biggest festivals, the amount of people there was shocking. People and more people everywhere! Meet a lot people from uni randomly too. It was amazing given the amount of people there.
Can’t be a festival without food stalls~
I like this shot for some reason.
All the floats are decorated with a beautiful tapestries.
Already lost count on how many floats there were.
As Gion Festival was nearing its end, a lot of stores were selling their yukatas and geta at a discounted price. My friend got her geta for ¥1000.
Was there for about 3-4 hours. Was all sweaty and couldn’t wait to take a shower when I got back. Was planning to go the next day too which was the festivals high point but decided against it. Watched it on tv instead XD. Already been to it two days in a row and no one else felt like going through the unbearable heat again. Not to mention the amount of people. It was a good experience though~
Really interesting festival. I should go see something like that at least once in my life time. I would be scared to wear open-toe footwear on days like this though. ^^;
The Inferno Project´s last blog ..Dakimakura Temptation
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Why not? I remember wearing sandals and didn’t have any trouble. A lot of other people were wearing getas and flip-flops too~