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Published: July 23rd 2006
We arrived at the Kyoto Tourist Information Centre to see a big sign reading ''NO VACANCY IN KYOTO, JULY 17''!!! Uh oh!! Dana, Linda, Zoe and I went through every possible scenario and decided the best option would be to stay up all night. It was the
Gion Matsuri (festival), one of the biggest in Japan, therefore the city was maxed out with tourists from all over the country. It sounded too good to be missed, so we hit the streets.
We spent the day on Sunday dodging rain drops, and visiting [bGinkakuji. We mostly took it easy knowing it would be a long night ahead. The streets filled with festival-goers around 6p.m. It is tradition to dress in yukatas for summer festivals...and just about everyone was decked out. The streets were lined with food vendors, selling typical Japanese festival food. We certainly sampled our fair share. The grand finale of the festival is the parade of floats on the holiday Monday. On Sunday night the floats were illuminated by lanterns and lights, placed on the streets around Kyoto. We thought we would never get to see one, because the first one we passed was so packed with people the
crowds weren't even moving. However, on some smaller, more hidden streets we found some to check out. We wandered around until about midnight. We stumbled upon a bar called ''Bottom Up''. The way the sign was painted it read ''Bottom Pu'', which we thought was hilarious......probably because we were tired and in the giggling stage of the night. We went in and spent the next couple of hours there. Eventually we hit the streets again, and decided we weren't going to make it. We found an internet cafe which rents out private computer rooms by the hour. It's common for people to use these rooms as a resting place for the night, if they've missed their last train home and have to wait till morning. The four of us crammed inside to nap.
6a.m. came very quickly and we started out another day. The only thing that was open was McDonald's so we hung out there for a little while. The parade was set to start at 9a.m. We found where we wanted to sit at around 7:15a.m. and parked ourselves there!
The
Gion Matsuri parade is the finale of the month long festival every July. Parade floats
are created by groups from different neighbourhoods of Kyoto. There were about 33 or so. The floats are huge, heavy and elaborately decorated. There are men leading and following each float, as well as those on it and carrying it. There are no women involved in this event. Despite the constant, heavy rainfall, the men in the parade were still enthusiastic and smiling. Even though we were covered by a small roof on the street, the rain still soaked us through. The parade and the rain ended around noon. It was a fantastic parade! I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Thanks for coming to Osaka Linda! I'm so happy that I got to share a little of Japan with you! See you in a month.
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Gion Matsuri 2006
Roothie
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I'm beginning to think more and more that Japan is just festivals, gardens and temples! What is festival food? Was your internet cafe room cheap accommodation?!!! Cool idea. Have you decided yet where you will be next year?