A towering float – complete with a wooden pole that easily rises six storeys – heaves into view. The float is elaborately decorated with tapestries festooned with gold, and has jet-black wheels taller than the average adult. About 50 people surround it, while a few stand guard on the roof and others sit inside.
The focus of spectators gathered at a road junction in Kyoto, Japan, is on the front of the float, where volunteers are pouring water on bamboo slats laid on the ground to help this behemoth slide through a 90-degree turn. With loud chants and raw power, the volunteers direct the heavy structure through two small turns. Finally, with one big push, they turn the corner and begin moving forward again.
The crowd breaks into applause. The festival is organised by the Yasaka Shrine and held throughout July across the city, but it is the Gion neighbourhood in particular that springs to life, with most residents taking part in one way or another. Families offer private art collections for public view, the creatively inclined decorate their district’s float and a chosen few have the honour of joining the Yamaboko Junko (“float procession”), an event recognised by Unesco as intangible cultural heritage.
The Gion Matsuri began as a purification ritual. In 869AD, Kyoto, then the capital of Japan, was ravaged by plague, so the emperor ordered that 66 spears – one for each of the country’s provinces – be erected and deities transported through the streets in portabl.