یادداشت
Gion Matsuri
祇園祭
Gion Matsuri is the July festival of Kyoto’s Yasaka Shrine. It runs 1–31 July; its best-known days are yamahoko float processions on 17 and 24 July.
چه روی میدهد
Gion Matsuri (祇園祭) is the festival of Yasaka Shrine (八坂神社) in Kyoto, and it is not a day but a month. It opens on 1 July with kippu-iri (吉符入) and closes on 31 July with the Ekijinja Nagoshi-sai (疫神社夏越祭), with observances at intervals in between.
Its best-known part is the yamahoko junkō, the procession of floats. There are two processions: the saki matsuri on 17 July and the ato matsuri on 24 July, with thirty-four floats between them. On the three evenings before each procession — 14 to 16 July, and 21 to 23 July — the floats stand in the neighbourhoods that own them, lit by lanterns and accompanied by music. These evenings are called yoiyama.
The floats are of two kinds. Yama carry platforms decorated to resemble mountains. Hoko are dominated by tall wooden poles, raised originally to summon the god of plague so that music, dance and worship could turn him into a protective spirit. Residents of the city’s self-governing districts build the floats, working with musicians and artisans to assemble, decorate and dismantle them each year. The order in which they proceed is drawn by lottery.
A note on the record: the 2009 heritage inscription for this festival describes a single procession on 17 July and thirty-two floats; the schedule the city publishes now has two processions and thirty-four. This entry takes its dates from the current schedule and its description of the floats from the inscription. Where the two differ, it is because the festival changed.
چرا اهمیت دارد
Gion Matsuri’s floats are made and remade through the work of the city’s self-governing neighbourhood districts. Residents build, decorate and dismantle them each year, working with the musicians and artisans connected to each district. This shared work, rather than direction by the shrine or the city, is what has carried the practice from one generation to the next.
The hoko were raised to call the Plague God so that music, dance and worship could transform him into a protective spirit. It is a festival held to turn something away, not to commemorate it. Japan recognised the float ceremony as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property before it was inscribed internationally in 2009.
چه زمانی برگزار میشود
پیش از رفتن
Japan — national visitor guidance. Not specific to this festival.
هرگز
- Deface a cultural asset. Graffiti or marks of any kind on temples, shrines and other historic structures cause irreparable damage, and are a criminal offence.
- Take photographs without permission.
- Litter. Use a bin where there is one or carry your rubbish with you, and separate cans, glass and plastic bottles into the right recycling bins.
- Enter private property, including farmland.
- Take large luggage into crowded spaces.
- Ignore posted manner signs. The tourism agency publishes a pictogram set covering locally posted prohibitions — blocking walkways, cutting in line, eating while walking, using a selfie stick, going onto train tracks — and these apply where they are displayed.
عکاسی
National guidance rather than a rule for any one festival: a responsible traveller does not take photographs without permission, and is asked to be considerate of their surroundings when taking them. Some places post signs prohibiting selfie sticks.
ازدحام
Crowds gather at popular places and in peak seasons. The national advice is to plan around them — visit on weekdays, early in the morning or at night — and to avoid sightseeing during commuter rush hours, when local people are travelling to work and school. Using a luggage-storage service, a locker or a courier keeps your hands free in crowded places.
کجا برگزار میشود
ژاپن
فقط محدودهٔ کلی
Only the surrounding area is published for this location.
منابع
کد کوتاه
jp-36gc9
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