The history of the Gion Matsuri festival in Japan

Every year since 869 CE, the Gion Matsuri festival — one of the most celebrated and impressive cultural events in Japan — has dominated the city of Kyoto for the entire month of July. The festival has a fascinating history, and was thought to have been first held as a Shinto rite of collective worship (matsuri) calling for cleansing spirits to purify the populace, who were suffering from plagues. The prayers were directed to the gods of Yasaka Shrine, which is located in the Gion district of Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward — hence the name Gion Matsuri.

The festival incorporates many ancient traditions as well as a few modern twists. And while worship was the original primary function of the event, in modern times the festivities have become more broad in their scope. They now have the feeling of a cultural celebration rather than a religious ritual, and thus offer a fantastic opportunity to learn not only about Shinto practices, but also various local customs of one of Japan’s most intriguing cities.

Origins of the Gion Matsuri festival

Kyoto had been the capital of Japan for about 70 years when the events took place that inspired what we now know as Gion Matsuri. In addition to the aforementioned bouts of plague that ravaged the Japanese populace in 869, a massive earthquake (about 9.0 on the modern moment magnitude scale) and subsequent tsunami struck the Sendai shoreline, killing about 1,000 people and destroying several towns. Per the beliefs of the time, locals attributed these horrors to the destructive spirit Gozu Tennō.

Emperor Seiwa ordered a series of prayers and rites at Shinsenen (then a lake near the imperial palace, now a Buddhist temple with a larger water garden). The goryo-e, a demonstration with 66 spears — one for each of Japan’s regions at that time — was among the most important of these rites.

The initial matsuri was considered successful, and while it was at first reserved for similar disease outbreaks, it ultimately became a yearly event. Gion Matsuri grew more complex as decades and then centuries went by, with float-led processions coming to dominate the festivities. It disappeared for about 30 years due to a 15th-century civil war that destroyed much of old Kyoto, but reemerged during the Azuchi-Momoyama Period of the late 16th century. The festival has remained largely uninterrupted ever since.

Read more: What to do in Kyoto, Japan

The Gion Matsuri festival today

July is a busy month for anyone involved in the preparations for Kyoto’s biggest festival. Although the two major processions take place on the 17th and 24th, right from the first day of the month, there’s a lot of action going on behind the scenes to get everything ready.

Opening rituals of the Matsuri

Local opening ceremonies begin on July 1 in each Kyoto neighborhood participating in the celebrations. The next day, a lottery decides the order of the parade. Then, from July 10 until the start of the Gion Matsuri, local artisans begin constructing the traditional wooden floats that will appear in the first procession.

The festival’s unique floats

To create floats for Gion Matsuri, builders use large timber beams that have been newly cut. These are then bound together with hundreds of feet of hemp rope and, remarkably, no nails. To complete the floats, a mast is attached — which is another engineering marvel, in which only rope and timber are permitted for their construction. Masts are often quite tall, sometimes up to 82ft (25m), and each float will have unique ornamentation at the top. The decorations usually consist of tapestries, gilded illustrations, tassels and lanterns, and elevate the procession of floats into the realm of the exquisite.

Testing the floats usually takes place in each neighborhood’s streets on around 14th July, and is the only occasion when women and people who are from outside the neighborhood are allowed to pull the float. It’s quite a sight to experience these test drives, which usually have a couple of men sitting on top of the roof in order to make sure the float doesn’t get tangled up in the wires strung along the narrow streets.

Rites of the processions

The Gion Matsuri festival opens with the time-honored Japanese tradition of welcoming spirits with a parade of mikoshi. These are portable shrines that house the cleansing spirits during their visit: Susanoo-no-Mikoto, his wife Kushinadahime-no-Mikoto, and their eight children. At the conclusion of the festival, there is a second parade of mikoshi, intended to show further respect to the spirits before they return to their world.

There are all sorts of complex rituals and traditions in praise of the mikoshi, which are carried out by Kyoto’s inhabitants with great pride. For the visiting tourist who doesn’t have any connection to the Shinto faith, it is usually the two Yamaboko Junkō processions — and the general celebratory atmosphere — that are the most memorable aspects of the Gion Matsuri festival.

In the days preceding the major processions, known as yoiyoiyoiyama (three days before), yoiyoiyama (two days before); and yoiyama (one day before), a sense of excitement and anticipation builds. Streets are closed to auto traffic, food stalls line the streets selling yakitori (skewered chicken with tare sauce and salt) and all sorts of other Japanese treats, and everywhere you look there are women and girls dressed in colorful yukata or summer kimono, both of which are special garments brought out for the occasion. Visitors both domestic and international flock to this culturally and visually rich event, and the center of Kyoto is always alive with people enjoying the spectacle.

The climax of celebrations comes with the two Yamaboko parades, on July 17 and 24, when 33 floats — 23 yama and 10 hoko — process through the streets, pulled or carried by people from each participating neighborhood. Although the body of each float is constructed anew each year, many of the decorations used to adorn the floats are treasures from centuries past, which explains how the floats have come to be known as “portable museums”. The Gion Matsuri festival is so intrinsic to the local culture of Kyoto that UNESCO has registered it as an example of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Generally speaking, only two other Japanese festivals are considered as significant as this one: the Kanda Matsuri of Tokyo (which takes place on the weekend closest to May 15 in odd-numbered years) and Osaka’s Tenjin Matsuri (from July 24-25). While these occasions, like Gion Matsuri, are centered around Shinto traditions, they’re bound to fascinate any observer and welcome all (though non-Shinto attendees must be respectful of the faithful).

Read more: The most beautiful Japanese festivals

Other highlights of the Gion Matsuri festival

July in Kyoto is a wonderful time to see Shinto tradition and Japanese artistry intertwined, as the Gion Matsuri makes ancient culture come alive in thrilling fashion.

There’s just so much to enjoy: listen to the distinctive sounds of the Gion-bayashi percussion music being practiced in numerous Kyoto neighborhoods or performed on the floats. Enjoy browsing the stalls for delicious snacks and local drinks: aside from the aforementioned yakitori, highlights include taiyaki (fish-shaped cakes made out of red beans), okonomiyaki (savory wheat pancakes that may include meat, fish, or cabbage along with various sauces), takoyaki (octopus and seasonings fried in wheat batter), and matcha green tea.

If dining at restaurants or pubs, you can enjoy local beer and sake, but these can’t be consumed outdoors. Last but not least, there’s chimaki (rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves): while these can (and should) be eaten, Kyoto locals often hang them in their homes as good luck charms.

Those with an eye for fashion, meanwhile, can admire the fabulous yukata outfits worn for the festival, and there are plenty of vendors selling souvenirs of all kinds along the procession routes.

All in all, Gion Matsuri is a time to bask in a barrage of fascinating sensory highlights.

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