三大祭（祇園祭）

About this photo

This tall, narrow photo shows a hoko, one of the towering floats of the Gion Festival, with spectators looking up at it. It appears on the "Three Great Festivals" page of Kyoto Meishocho (Album of Famous Places in Kyoto), published in 1907, alongside the Aoi Festival and the Jidai Festival.

The Gion Festival is the festival of Yasaka Shrine, and it is said to have begun in 869 as a goryoe, a rite held to calm an epidemic. It stopped for a time during the Onin War, but the townspeople revived it in 1500. The yama and hoko floats are still cared for and handed down by each neighborhood.

The festival lasts the whole month of July, and the hoko stand more than 20 meters tall. The float procession was once held twice, as the Saki Matsuri (Early Festival) and the Ato Matsuri (Later Festival), but the two were combined in 1966. In 2014 the procession returned to its original form for the first time in 49 years, and it now takes place on July 17 and 24. The float events are a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and are also inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Glossary