Monday, August 4, 2008

Gion Matsuri

Gion Matsuri is a Japanese traditional festival that is still celebrated in Kyoto. The festival spans about a month long with ‘Yamaboko Junko’ (or The Float Parade) being the peak of the festival. It was first held in 869, when a plague swept the country and the people prayed for its abatement by celebrating the Gion gods and paraded portable shrines through the streets (Industry and Tourism Bureau, City of Kyoto, 2008). This particular float in the pic, the ‘Naginata Boko’ leads the parade each year and is the only float that features a child (Industry and Tourism Bureau, City of Kyoto, 2008)

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