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alvaro with his suitcase on terramachi.
all the ryuugakusei are suddenly turning into magicians, fitting vast amounts of clothes and souveniers into very small places. alvaro bought a new suitcase early afternoon and became quite attached to it.
then we went to see emy and pierre's taiko performance at the kyoto city college of art and design.
people of all ages were in the performance and it was really, really cool. and loud.
in the end, they called up random people from the audience. here is diego trying to copy a 4 year old.
alvaro brought his suitcase to see emy at the taiko performance. james was quite excited.
a couple hours later we went downtown in the heat to walk around with a thousand other people at the gion matsuri.
-the gion matsuri started in 869ad. that year the people of kyoto were suffering from a massive plague which they thought was caused by the deity gozu. the emperor ordered a procession to the yasaka shrine at the foot of gion to pray to susano-onomikoto. 66 halberds were constructed and the procession took place. it continued to take place every time there was a breakout of plague until in 970ad it was decreed an annual event and has taken place every july since.
now the matsuri is characterized by enormous floats constructed of bamboo and tapestries in which musicians sit and play traditional music. the tallest float is about 4 stories tall and is quite intimidating. the week before the matsuri, local men spend time constructing the "yamaboko" floats for each neighborhood and for three nights before the procession, downtown is closed for pedestrian traffic and there is food and drink as everyone walks around in yukata kimono looking at the floats, seeing friends, and dying of the heat (it's about 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity or something). it's apparently one of the three major festivals in all of japan and it's incredibly crowded. i've gone downtown the past two nights, last night with a ton of the ryuugakusei and japanese friends, some of whom were wearing yukata.
(l-r) tae, emy, diego and miki in yukata (cotton summer kimono)
walking down kawaramachi-dori to yasaka-jinja
the nagabata, the most important float in the parade. on monday morning it will lead the procession. the boys up there each are musicians and play traditional gagaku music. women aren't allowed to enter the float because we'd contaminate them, of course.
miki, emy and diego walking down kawaramachi-dori
waiting for more people to join us
diego hitting himself with a huge paper fan
yay! finally yasaka-jinja! i think it took us over 2 hours to walk the length of downtown (normally it'd take about 20-30 minutes) this was due to the crowds, frequent stops for refreshment (there aren't any open container or drunk in public laws in japan), frequent stops to wait for other people to meet us, and the heat.
yasaka-jinja, also known as "gion-san" for watching over gion
just beyond the gates into the shrine.. "demise" (food stalls) and tons of people
lanterns representing important contributors and members of the shrine on the center platform. if you look closely, you can see several gold portable shrines inside.
emy and some people attempting to win goldfish by scooping them up with a thin tissue paper spoon. she managed to get 4. one was dead half hour later. i'm not sure what happened to the rest.
after our long journey, we walked back across downtown to go to gayagaya. here's bunsho showing off his yukata.
it was a really long day but im glad i did a lot. i want to do as much as possible in the next two weeks or so. emy leaves on wednesday and alvaro leaves in about a week, and my schedule book is packed with appointments and parties and events. not to mention packing.
i'll most likely go back downtown again tonight to pick up some charms from the yamaboko, and then monday morning i'll be downtown by 8am to stake out a place to watch the procession. then it's my last week of school with finals and essays and business. thursday i get to dress up like maiko for my birthday so you can look forward to picures of that! and then saturday is a small graduation ceremony for us and then juan and i's birthday party that night down by the river and then probably followed by karaoke.
i'll try not to hurt myself.