Essential Japanese Seasonal Decorations - Summer
Seasonality: Late Summer/ July
Japanese Name: Gion Matsuri/ Saki Gion Matsuri/ Ato Gion Matsuri/ Yoiyama/ Byobu Matsuri/ Saki Matsuri Yamaboko Junko/ Ato Matsuri Yamaboko Junko/ Yamahoko/ Yamaboko/ Yama/ Hoko/ Yoiyama Chouchin/ Machiya/ Kyoumachiya/ Manmaku/ Makuhimo/ Makuboo/ Asagao/ Suika/ Zori
English Name: Yasaka Shrine Festival/ Early Yasaka Shrine Festival/ Late Yasaka Shrine Festival/ Pre-festival Party/ Folding Screen Festival/ Early Yasaka Shrine Festival Float Procession/ Late Yasaka Shrine Festival Float Procession/ Gion Matsuri Floats/ Mountain/ Halberd/ Pre-festival Party Lanterns/ Townhouse/ Kyoto Townhouse/ Running Curtain/ Curtain String/ Curtain Tassel/ Morning Glory/ Watermelon/ Grass Sandals
Gion Matsuri (祇園祭), the festival of Yasaka Shrine, is the most famous festival in Japan. It was first celebrated in 869 CE in an attempt to appease the gods during a plague outbreak in Kyoto. It consists of multiple events (click here for the day-by-day breakdown) that take place over the entire month of July and are divided into the Early Gion Festival (先祇園祭, Saki Gion Matsuri) and the Later Gion Festival (後祇園祭, Ato Gion Matsuri). Before each procession, there are pre-festival parties known collectively as yoi-yama (宵山). Depending on the day, these pre-matsuri celebrations are known as Yoi-yoi-yoi-yama (宵宵宵山, July 14 or 21), Yoi-yoi-yama (宵宵山, July 15 or 22), and Yoi-yama (宵山, July 16 or 23). At the same time as the early yoi-yama celebrations is Byobu Matsuri (屏風祭), a festival where local residents put precious family heirlooms on display for the general public. On July 17, the grand procession of floats, known as Saki Matsuri Yamaboko Junko (先祭山鉾巡行), takes place and a limited number of the impressive floats are paraded for 3 km starting from Shijo-Karasuma Station, up Kawaramachi-dori and ending at Karasuma-Oike Station. After a 48 year hiatus, in 2014, a second smaller procession of floats known as Ato Matsuri Yamaboko Junko (後祭山鉾巡行) was reintroduced. On July 24, the remaining floats are paraded down the streets in the reverse of the earlier parade’s route. The yoi-yama of the Ato Matsuri tend to be less popular than the yoi-yama held for the Saki Matsuri.
Yama-hoko/ Yama-boko (山鉾), meaning "mountain-halberd,” are the collective names for the festival floats that are key to the parades & celebrations of Gion Matsuri. These floats are broken down into 1 of 2 types: the hoko and the yama. There are 9 hoko floats, each one topped with a long pole to act as a “halberd” or “spear.” These “spears” represent the 66 actual spears used for purification in the original Gion Matsuri. The hoko are the largest floats in the parade weighing 12,000 kg (26,455 lbs or 13 tons) with the structures being 8m (26ft) tall. If you include the “spears,” the floats are a total 25m (82ft) tall. In order to move these massive floats, the hoko have enormous wheels with 1.9m (6ft) diameters and need as many as 40 people to pull them along the route. The 23 yama floats carry life-sized mannequins of famous & important people from Kyoto’s history, always adorned with a pine tree branch pointing towards the sky. These smaller yama are about 6m (~20ft) tall, weigh up 1,600 kg (3,527lbs or ~2 tons) and require up to 24 people to pull, push or carry them along the parade route. Learn the names of each yama-hoko here.
Yoi-yama Chouchin (宵山提灯), or pre-Gion Matsuri party lanterns, are used to identify, decorate and illuminate the hoko (鉾), or "spear” floats, on the three nights before the early and later Gion Matsuri parades. The lanterns are hung from bamboo structures in a way that resemble shogi pieces. These shogi-shaped structures bookend each float, are made up of roughly 40 large chouchin lanterns decorated with the crests of the various families who maintain the floats or with kanji identifying the primary god the float is dedicated to. These lanterns also help to illuminate the pedestrian walkway and vendor stalls selling various street foods during yoi-yama. During the parades, these lanterns are removed so as not to obstruct the view of the floats.
Byobu Matsuri (屏風祭), or the Folding-Screen Festival, coincides with the yoi-yama (宵山, pre-festival parties) events of the Saki Gion Matsuri (先祇園祭, early Gion Matsuri). This festival is an opportunity for many traditional families living in machiya (町屋/町家, townhouse or town-shops) in the Yamaboko, Shinmachi, and Muromachi districts to show off their treasured traditional objects, such as heirloom folding screens, Imperial style folding-fans, hand-crafted miniature hoko parade floats, and antique kimono.
Machiya (町屋/町家, townhouse or town-shop) are traditional wooden townhouses found throughout Japan and typified in the historical capital of Kyoto. Machiya originated as early as the Heian period and continued to develop through to the Edo period and even into the Meiji period. Machiya housed urban merchants and craftsmen, a class collectively referred to as chōnin (townspeople). Machiya in Kyoto, sometimes called kyōmachiya (京町家 or 京町屋) is typically a long wooden home with narrow street frontage, stretching deep into the city block and often containing one or more small courtyard gardens (tsuboniwa). Machiya incorporate earthen walls and baked tile roofs, and could be one, one and a half, two, or occasionally even three stories high. The front of the building traditionally served as the retail or shop space, generally having sliding or folding shutters that opened to facilitate the display of goods and wares. The plot's width was traditionally an index of wealth, and typical machiya plots were only 5.4 to 6 meters wide, but about 20 meters deep, leading to the nickname unagi no nedoko, or eel beds.
Manmaku (幔幕), or running curtains, are traditional Japanese fabric dividers hung outside of buildings like Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, machiya style homes, and Sairei-mon (祭礼門幕, religious festival gates) as well as outdoor locations for ceremonial & theatrical purposes. Here’s an example of a maku being hung outside a machiya home during Byobu Matsuri. Unlike noren, which usually have one or more vertical slits cut from the bottom to nearly the top of the fabric, maku are solid rectangles of fabric. These curtains are often tied up in front of openings or windows using a makuhimo (幕紐, curtain string) to which a decorative makuboo (幕房, curtain tassel) is attached. They’re often decorated with stripes and the family crest, kamon, of the family or establishment. Possibly being derived from the use of jinmaku (陣幕, military camp curtains), the maku carry a wish for protection from evil spirits.
Asagao (朝顔, morning glories) is one of the most popular summer plants in Japan, very often depicted in yukata and other summer wafuku items. Their Japanese name translates directly as “beauty in the morning.” The pattern is also known as kengoshi, which usually means the medicinal asagao seeds but can refer to the plant itself. Asagao symbolizes summer, especially during the Edo period. It was a favorite flower among commoners and was extremely popular in the Bunka era (1804-1818 CE). Asagao blooms splendidly, everywhere at once, but only for a short while.
Suika (スイカ, watermelon) are the representative fruit of the Japanese summer. Watermelons were introduced to Japan from China in the beginning of the Edo Period (1603-1867). Like their Western counterparts, they are large in size with a hard rind and a sweet, crunchy, juicy flesh. The first seedless watermelons were created in Japan in the 1930s, and nowadays there are also small numbers of square shaped and other highly priced premium exemplars. There is a traditional summertime game called suika-wari (スイカ割り, watermelon splitting), where a watermelon is placed on the ground and participants take turns being spun around and trying to split it open with a stick. The first to break open the watermelon wins! The game is often played on the beach as well as any other outdoor summer time outing.
Zori (草履, “grass shoes”) are flat and thonged Japanese sandals made of rice straw or other plant fibers, cloth, lacquered wood, leather, rubber, or—increasingly—synthetic materials. The traditional forms of zōri are seen when worn with other traditional clothing; modern forms are fairly common, especially in summer. While geta are nowadays worn with the informal yukata, zōri are associated with the more formal kimono. The formality of the occasion affects the choice of kimono and zōri. However, zori are generally considered more comfortable than geta. Women's zōri can be made of plastics or imitation straw, but the hanao (thongs) are usually red, and they rank below colored vinyl or brocade zōri in formality.
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