This festival is the greatest in Osaka boasting of a history of a thousand years. On the morning of the 24th, it stars with the Hokonagashi Ritual (Throwing the sacred sword) by Hokonagashi Bridge. Shishi-Mai (Lion Dance) and Mikoshi (Portable shrine) go around the territory of the shrine. In the Hommiya (Main day) on the 25th, the Rikutogyo starts from the shrine at about 16:00, and finishes in the shrine again through the Funatogyo. The festival reaches a climax during that passage. A large number of torch-lit boats cruising the river and the fireworks are splendidly displayed.
July 25 The festival reaches climax when approx. 5,000 fireworks are set off in the night sky. Enjoy fantastic and awesome scenary! One of the highlights of the festival is the land procession, which is a parade of some 3,000 people dressed in the imperial-court style of the 8th-12th Centuries marching beside portable shrines. The other highlight is the boat procession, when the same 3,000 people board some 100 boats from the approach of the Tenmabashi Bridge and sail upstream.
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2010/07/17(sat)
Gion-Matsuri Festival 祇園祭
Gion-Matsuri Festival
Jul. 1 – Jul 31 Gion Matsuri is one of the largest festivals in Japan. This festival actually started in 869, when a priest of Yasaka Shrine led a procession of people through Kyoto in an attempt to pray Shinto gods to stop the plague raged at the time. The plague soon ended but this event became the most popular festival in Kyoto. Most exciting part of the festival is Yoiyama ( eve of the Festival ) from 14th - 16th,and Yamaboko Junko ( The Grand Procession ) on 17th, but many other ceremonial rituals are held throughout July. Here's a list of main festival events.
Schedule of events
July 1 through 5: Kippuiri, opening ceremony of festival, in each participating neighbourhood July 2: Kujitorishiki, lottery for the parade order, in the municipal assembly hall July 7: Shrine visit by chigo children of Ayagasaboko July 10: Lantern parade to welcome mikoshi portable shrines July 10: Mikoshi arai, cleansing of mikoshi by sacred water from the Kamo River July 10 through 13: Building-up of floats July 13 a.m.: Shrine visit by chigo children of Naginataboko July 13 p.m.: Shrine visit by chigo children of Kuse Shrine July 14: Yoiyoiyoiyama July 15: Yoiyoiyama July 16: Yoiyama July 16: Yoimiya shinshin hono shinji, dedicative art performances July 17: Parade of yamaboko floats July 17: Parade of mikoshi from Yasaka Shrine to the city July 24: Parade of hanagasa or "flower parasols" July 24: Parade of mikoshi from the city to Yasaka Shrine July 28: Mikoshi arai, cleansing of mikoshi by sacred water from the Kamo river July 31: Closing service at Eki Shrine
Hoko and Yama Tate ( Float Construction ) JUL.10 - JUL.14 32 floats are assembled on these days . No nail is used, they are all assembled by ropes, with the traditional method. 10日～14日 ・鉾建・山建：山や鉾が、釘を一切使わず木組みと縄だけで組み立てられます。
Hoko & Yama Hiki-hajime ( Trial Pull ) JUL.12 - JUL.14 The newly constructed Hoko and Yama ( floats ) are pulled by the neighborhood as a try. Visitors also can join the pulling. Dento Geino hono ( Traditional performances ) JUL.15 3:00PM - 6:00PM Kabuki, Koto, Biwa, Kyogen etc are performed at Yasaka Shrine.
Yoi-Yama ( Eve of the Festival ) and Byobu Matsuri (Screen Display) JUL.14 - JUL.16 All the 32 Hoko and Yama(floats)are elaborately decorated with lanterns, and musicians wearing "Yukata", (summer Kimono) play rhythmical "Gion bayashi" music on the floats. Also private houses along the streets open their doors to show their family treasures such as "Byobu (traditional folding screens)" to the people passing by. 14日～16日（夕刻～） ・宵山：山鉾の提灯を点灯。また各山鉾町内の各家では、屏風などが飾られます。
Yama-Hoko Junko ( The Grand Procession ) JUL.17 The first Naginata Float starts moving at 9:00AM, then a formal ceremony confirms the order of the floats. The floats are so big and heavy that bunches of bamboo are spread at each street corner to help the floats make a turn. This technique, called "Tsuji-mawashi" , adds the exciting spectacles to the procession.
Yasaka Shrine's three Mikoshi ( portable shrines ) parade in the Gion district around 4:00PM., then are displand at an annex of the shrine. They return to Yasaka Shrine on 24th.
Hanagasa-Junko ( Umbrella Procession ) JUL.24 About ten large umbrellas, decorated with flowers, parade through the streets accompanied by musicians, Geisha and many other people.
ceremonial dances Flower decorated umbrellas
Prossesion route : Yasaka Shrine --> Shijo St. --> Kawaramachi St. --> --> Oike St. --> Teramachi St. --> Shijo St. --> Yasaka Shrine
Place The festive parade marches through the main streets from Yasaka Shrine via Shijoh - Kawaramachi & Oike - Teramachi dori Street, hence return to Yasaka Shrine.
Near Gion bus stop. Gion bus stop can be reached from JR Kyoto Station on City Bus No. 206
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2010/07/11(sun)
Kumata Shrine Summer Festival
Kumata Shrine Summer Festival （杭全神社夏祭）
7/11～14
The largest float festival in Osaka city, announcing the coming of mid-summer. 9 floats compete in a pulling contest on both the 12th and 13th. Don’t miss the entering shrine on the night of 13th. Rituals such as a parade of portable shrines are held on the 14th.
July 7th is Tanabata, or the Star Festival, in Japan. This event is based on a Chinese legend, in which Kengyuu (the star Alter) meets Orihime (the star Vega) only once a year on this day over the Milky Way. People celebrate this day by putting up big branches of bamboo with colourful decorations at home. People also make a wish and hang a strip of paper with their wish written on it. A lot of cities, such as Sendai and Hiratsuka, also celebrate this event by putting up many beautifully decorated bamboo branches in main streets. Many of them seem to celebrate this event in August (July in the lunar calendar) as well.
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2010/06/30(wed)
Aizen Festival 愛染さん（愛染堂=勝鬘院）
Aizen Festival （ June 30, July 1, July 2 ） 愛染さん（愛染堂=勝鬘院） This festival is said to have originated when women in yukata summer kimono from the entertainment quarter visited the temple on a palanquin called kago. It is also called Yukata Festival, because people begin wearing yukata at this time of the year. Presently, aizen musume girls in yukata parade through the town on a decorated palanquin called hoekago in a festive atmosphere. Aizen Myo-o, the primary god of the temple, is known as a god of charms, good luck, love and happy marriages. The statue of the god is open to the public during the New Year season and this festival only.
Professional hula dancers and high skilled trainees of Halau Hula School will entertain in the event through the period. From 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on July 10th, a special live stage “KAULANA & LIKO Dancers Special Hawaiian Live” is held. “Kaulana” is a professional Hawaiian band and “Liko Dancers” is a name of a professional Hula dancers’ team.
June 26 (Sat.), June 27 (Sun.), July 3 (Sat.), July 4 (Sun.), July 10 (Sat.), and July 11 (Sun.), 2010.
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2010/06/23(wed)
Daian-ji Temple （大安寺）
Daian-ji Temple （大安寺）
Mass for Bamboos & Incantation against Cancer （ Jun. 23
This is a Buddhist ceremony performed to show our respect and gratitude to bamboos related closely to our daily life, which have contributed in many ways to the spiritually rich life of the Japanese; for we have a long-standing custom of wrapping rice cakes or rice-dumplings called Chimaki in bamboo barks or leaves utilizing antiseptic effects shown by bamboos. After the Buddhist service in which such bamboos are offered to the Eleven-faced Kannon, the main object of worship of this temple, sacred straw ropes are tied around some bamboos in the precincts, and another ceremony is performed on the altar set up temporarily with the wish that bamboos may grow vigorously. June 23 is said to be the day when you should plant bamboos because they will thrive later on; this day is named "Chikusui-jitsu", literally the Day for Bamboo Drunk. You are invited to a drinking ceremony where you are supposed to drink Sasa-zake, literally Bamboo-Leave Sake, which is known for its efficacy against cancer.
Himeji Yukata Matsuri is a festival held in the area around Himeji Castle, centering on Osakabe-jinja, a shrine to the guardian deity of Himeji Castle. The festival is believed to be a remnant of a ceremony held about 250 years ago when Sakakibara Masamine, who had been the lord of Himeji Castle, left the town. Since the original ceremony was held at short notice, people could not prepare proper festive clothing and Sakakibara Masamine told them a yukata, a lightweight piece of clothing customarily worn only after a bath or in summer, would be sufficient. Thus it became a custom to wear a yukata to this festival. These days, local kindergarten and elementary school students and their parents wearing yukata carry torches and march toward Osakabe-jinja in what is known as the childrens' parade.
June 22 ○ Child yukata parade 4：30 pm ～ ○ Opening ceremony 5：00 pm ～（Otemae Park stage） ○ Yukata fashion show 6：00 ～（Otemae Park stage） ○ Friendship stage in Jonan 5：00 (Jonan Park）
June 23 ○ Himeji-jo Castle Minyo Festival 6：00 pm ～ (Otemae Park stage) ○ Friendship stage in Jonan 5：30 ～（Jonan Park） June 24 Princess Shiro-maru 6：00 ～（Otemae Park stage） Child stage and Bingo game 17：00 ～（Jonan Park）
This memorial ceremony is dedicated to the Buddhist saint Kobo Daishi and features sutra chanting (from 10:00). The garden, designed in the Momoyama period, and the temple wall paintings will be open to the public (free; 9:00-16:00).
Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine（ 住吉大社 ） Otaue Rice Planting Festival （ 御田植神事 ） June 14 13:00～ With the opening of the rice growing, the rice-transplanting event to worship God of the rice field is performed nationwide in each place. Above all, I protect the same formality in those days and am famous as the festival that I am gorgeous and perform grandly without abbreviating a ceremony in Sumiyoshi.
The person about event receives a talisman against evils, and at first a rice-planting girl or a child taking part in a festive procession perform 奉告祭 of the act of God in the first Hongu. And I fix the line and go to the rice-planting festival. It flows into every direction of the Japanese hotchpotch and cleanses sacred water, and giving and receiving of Sanae is performed afterwards. With the central stage and circumference, a dance and a dance are developed in sequence and may please a looking person. Above all, the Sumiyoshi dance is famous. I am very pretty, and the figure which I model the character of the heart, and dance softens.
次のような順番で踊りや舞が行なわれます。 A dance and a dance are performed with the following turn. 1. 神楽女8名による八乙女の田舞 (たまい) 1. Ritual music and dancing performed in Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples of Yaotome by eight female kagura performers(I) 2. 御稔女 (みとしめ) による神田代舞 (みとしろまい) 2. Minoru woman(みとしめ) God Mai Tashiro whom I am similar, and get together(みとしろまい) 3. 鎧兜をまとった武者による風流武者行事 3. An elegant Musha event by Musha who wore an armor helmet 4. 男児による源平合戦 4. A competition between two teams battle by the boy 5. 女児による田植踊り 5. I dance rice-transplanting by the girl dance 6. 約150名の女児による住吉踊り 6. Sumiyoshi dance by about 150 girls
An original name of this shrine was "Tsuyuno-ten-jinjya" until the puppet drama, "Sonezaki-shinju" was released. In this story, which was written by a playwright, Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653 - 1724), a woman, Ohatsu, and a man, Tokube, chose the shrine to end their lives together. Today, the shrine is called "Ohatsu-tenjin". The name comes from Ohatsu who committed the double suicide, and is also known for the god of fate. A flea market is held here on first Friday of every month and is a very popular event for foreign travelers.
Ohatsu Tenjin Flea Market Schedule ( 1st and 3rd Friday of every month ) The aisles of the flea market are lined with 30 to 40 interesting antique shops, offering a wide variety of items from western antiques to antique toys. Though the flea market is not so large, the quality and variety of the goods are quite high. You’ll find a good bargain here.
The Tour of Japan is the country’s only—and Asia’s largest—national stage race and is officially recognized by the Union Cycliste International. The race in Osaka (Sakai) is the first of six stages of race and is followed by another five carried out throughout Japan.
The festival will be postponed in the case of rain.
One of the three major festivals in Kyoto and thought to be the oldest festival in the world. Officially called, Kamo Matsuri, it dates back to the 6th century when the Emperor sent two imperial messengers to Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines to pray for a good harvest. Princess Saio also worshipped at these shrines and this festival is a tribute to her. On this day the maiden chosen to be the heroine is dressed in a beautiful twelve-layer court kimono. The name of the festival derives from the aoi (hollyhock) leaves that are used to decorate the animals, the carriages and the people in the parade. This 700-meter long procession starts off at Kyoto Imperial Palace where over 500 people dressed in elegant traditional Heian (794-1185) costumes parade. Famous historical characters are portrayed, as well as warriors, courtiers, soldiers and musicians. The procession slowly makes its way to Shimogamo Shrine where the Shato-no-gi, a sacred ceremony is performed. After that it continues towards Kamigamo Shrine for the final rites.
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2010/05/09(sun)
Midosuji Opening Festival 2010
Midosuji Opening Festival 2010 Date: May 9, 2010 From 1:00pm to 5:00pm
Venue: Midosuji, between Shinsaibashi (Nagahoribashi Sta.) and Namba (Sennichimae Sta.) opening ceremony（From 1:00pm to 1:15pm And opening parade This event will take place on Osaka's main drag and will include live art performances, a creators’ market, fashion stage, world performances, dance battles and much more.
Venue: Midosuji, between Shinsaibashi (Nagahoribashi Sta.) and Namba (Sennichimae Sta.) opening ceremony（From 1:00pm to 1:15pm And opening parade This event will take place on Osaka's main drag and will include live art performances, a creators’ market, fashion stage, world performances, dance battles and much more.
