The Kamogawa Odori consists of two stages. In the first stage, the play and dance are performed and in the second, a lively group dance. Before the show, the audience can enjoy tea made by a geiko girl at the theater tea corner.
The Kamogawa Odori is a geisha dance performance presented in the late spring in the Pontocho district of Kyoto. Pontocho is one of Kyoto’s few remaining geisha districts, the most famous being Gion. The Pontocho district has been putting on their Kamogawa Odori since 1872.
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1 st October this festival is held in appreciation for the year’s grain harvest. The festival began as an offering of new rice husks, vegetables and fruit to the deity. The name comes from the portable shrine, which is adorned with a taro stalk roof. For the deity celebration on the 1st is a parade of portable shrines from the main shrine to the place of travel. For the return celebration on the 4th day, the parade returns from the place of travel to the main shrine.
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This is a festive event held on March 3rd when hina ningyo dolls are decorated in homes where there are daughters. It is also called Momo-no-Sekku (Peach Festival). Displayed on the a tiered doll-stand are gorgeous hina ningyo dolls together with miniature articles and furniture. And offerings of diamond-shaped rice cakes, sweet and peach blossoms are made to accompany prayers for the healthy growth and happy future of the daughters. There is also the custom of cooking clams and short-necked clams, these dishes decorate the doll-stand and are served as a special dinner for this feast.
The scene of a boat party on a river from 1,000 years ago is reproduced by some 20 boats on the Oigawa River flowing through Arashiyama in Kyoto. Every year, 100,000 tourists come to view this graceful spectacle. This is an event organized by the Kurumazaki Shrine standing close to the river, and originates in a ceremony that was held upon receiving the Emperor on his visit to this land.
Daimonji Festival is one of the three famous festivals in Kyoto. At 8pm on August 16, five giant bonfires are lit on five mountains.
Confronted with the Fujiwara conspiracy to banish him to Dazaifu, Michizane wrote the following poem in front of the ume trees at Kobaidono, the Michizane residence in Kyoto, just before he departed on the journey. When the east wind blows, loose your fragrance, for even without their master, ume blossoms should never forget Spring. There is a well known legend, the Tobiume Densetsu, which has it that out of their yearning, the ume trees flew all the way to Dazaifu in a single night, before Michizane even arrived there, to lay down new roots and release their fragrance for their master. As that famous poem shows, Michizane had an extraordinary love for ume blossom. Kitano-Tenmangu has about 1,500 ume trees of more than 50 types spread over the approximately 6.6 hectares of the shrine grounds, and today it is the most famous ume viewing spot in Kyoto. February 25th is the day of Michizane’s death, and the Baika-sai Ume Blossom Festival is held on this day every year. At the festival, always bustling with visitors, geisha from the Kamishichiken district of Kyoto brew tea in an outdoor tea ceremony amid the strong fragrance of the ume blossom. The best time to view the blossoms is the period from the end of February until the middle of March, when ume trees with either red or white blossoms, and both single and double-flowered blossoms fill the garden with their sweet fragrance.
Gion Matsuri, or Gion Festival began in the tenth century and is held from July 1 to July 31 every year. There are more than ten events held during the month of the festival. The most famous event among them is Yamaboko Junko where Yamaboko floats parade slowly in central Kyoto in the morning of July 17. Another event, Shinko-sai, held in the evening of the same day, is more wild and masculine. It is not so famous as Yamaboko Junko but my opinion is that you should see it if you visit Kyoto to see Yamaboko Junko. In the Eve of Yamaboko-Junko, they display decorations of Yamaboko for closer look.
