Gion Matsuri

What actually happens

Yoiyama — the three evenings before each procession, with stalls and open floats. Tsujihashi — the right-angle turn, performed to a chant and a bamboo mat.

• 01Yoiyama — the three evenings before each procession, with stalls and open floats.
• 02Tsujihashi — the right-angle turn, performed to a chant and a bamboo mat.
• 03Chigo shinji — the child diviner, carried on a float and forbidden to touch the ground.
• 04Mikoshi togyo — the portable shrines returned to Yasaka Jinja at the end.

Sound of the crowd

Each float carries its own bell-and-flute ensemble, and no two play the same tune. The sound is deliberately competitive: the louder the hoko, the more it is meant to please the kami inside.

How it survived

First held in 869 during an epidemic. The float parade developed in the Muromachi period when the merchant guilds began competing on float decoration, which is why the festival doubles as a history of Kyoto craft.