One of the great events of summer in Kyoto is the Gion Festival. We've been looking forward to this week for a long time (indeed, we've wished we could be here for this festival for many years), and are fortunate that we have a home base just 15 minutes away by train from this famous event. For those of you familiar with Kyoto, Shijo Avenue looks a little different during the festival--most of the downtown area is closed to traffic this week.
The Gion Festival culminates Friday with the Grand Parade, which consists of 30-some giant wooden "floats," pulled by neighborhood organizations. Men and women in matching yukata (summer kimono) ride in the wagons and play music, beat drums, and chant. For three "eves" prior to the Grand Parade, the floats are parked in various downtown locations and thousands and thousands of people, many in yukata, stroll the streets and enjoy viewing the floats, listenting to the music and chanting, and eating festival food (did you know you could put an omelette on a stick?). We joined the fray last night, and took these pictures. It really was quite an experience, and we hope to go again tonight to see more floats and eat more things on sticks. Note that the baby donned his yukata, and we got many "kawaii" comments on his apparel and his cute little self.
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