あおいまつり

こんにちは、みんなさん！

きょうは、５月にあったまつりについてかきたいとおもいます。

まつりってどういうこと、しっていますか？

Japanese ｍatsuri (festivals) come in many different forms. There are some where you go out on boats to view the moon. There are others where you watch fireworks and eat lots of good street food. But Kyoto also has very lavish processions of people in historical costume. The biggest one of these is じだいまつり (celebrating Kyoto's 1000 + year old history), but the recent Aoi Matsuri had some pretty spectacular clothes as well.

 The festival began in the 6th Century, but it grew very popular in the Heian Period (794-1185), so the clothes you see here are from that time. The procession travels from the Imeperial Palace to two major shrines across the river, where Shinto rites are held. They close off part of the main shoppping streets (Kyoto's equivalent of Oxford Street), and as you can see, crowds of people line the side of the road to see it. Everyone enjoys watching the horses and the oxen pulling carts, and we even made friends with some of the old ladies standing next to us!

 Every year a young woman from Kyoto is chosen to be the "Saio". She plays the part of an imperial princess, who historically would be head of the two shrines. She wears the Heian period 12-layered kimono, and is carried along the parade route in a palanquin. Apparently it is nearly impossible to walk when you are wearing that many layers of clothes!

 This is an ox pulling a cart to the shrine. I say "pulling", but actually it looked like the people were doing a lot of the work, so the ox just had to walk along and look dignified.

By the way, あおい does NOT mean blue here! It's a kind of plant, usually translated as 'hollyhock', and it is used to decorate the acrts and umbrellas. It used to be very common here but apparently it's pretty hard to find in this area, so they have to transport lots of plants from other parts of Japan especially for the occasion.

もうすぐは「ぎおんまつり」というおおきいまつりです。その日はともだちといっしょにきものをきるよていですから、とてもたのしみにしています。みんなさん、まつりはとてもたのしいですよ！


どうおもいますか？こんなまつりを見たいですか？

よんでくれてありがとうございました。

ミランダ