A Timeless Celebration

In Japan, the Gion Matsuri festival is a centuries-old tradition that brings towering floats to the streets in Shinto religious processions. This revered festival has its roots in rituals dating back over 1,000 years, with the primary intention of warding off epidemics.

For Katsushi Horikawa, a participant in the festival, there’s a special moment when he feels closer to the gods. This moment comes when he’s riding atop one of the towering floats, pulled through the streets in a centuries-old procession.

‘I am conscious of them when I’m riding on top,’ Horikawa said. ‘When we’re assembling it as well, but I think the main time is when I’m riding on it.’

A Tradition Rooted in Worship

Behind the festive atmosphere of the Gion Matsuri lies a tradition rooted in the worship of deities and rituals of protection. ‘Those performances are not meant primarily for the entertainment of people,’ said Fabio Rambelli, a religious studies professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. ‘They are offerings to the gods.’

The Gion Matsuri originated in the late 9th century as a ritual to appease spirits believed to cause epidemics and to pray for protection from disease. It takes its name from Kyoto’s Gion District and ‘matsuri,’ the Japanese word for festival.

At the heart of the celebration is Kyoto’s Yasaka Shrine, a Shinto site whose principal deity has long been revered as a protector against calamities. However, the shrine’s history also reflects centuries of interaction between Shinto and Buddhism in Japan.

‘Until about 150 years ago it was a Buddhist temple,’ Rambelli said. ‘That’s part of the religious changes that have taken place in Japan.’

Early versions of the Gion Matsuri involved the deity Gozu Tennō, an ox-headed figure believed to have the power either to spread epidemics or to avert them. To show evil forces and spirits that their god would confront them, devotees carried him around the city in processions that resembled those seen throughout Kyoto today.

A Syncretic Deity

It was a kind of syncretic deity — probably of Indian origin — with connections to Korea and local folklore,’ Rambelli said. ‘A lot of gods in Japan are a mixture of different traditions.’

Japan’s government separated the two traditions of Shinto and Buddhism in 1868 during the Meiji era, effectively bringing Shinto shrines under state control and placing the emperor at the center of the new order.

‘Because the emperor was the direct descendant of the goddess of the sun, they purified the whole system creating what now we see as Shinto,’ said Andrea De Antoni, professor of anthropology and religious studies at the University of Kyoto.

De Antoni said a strong anti-Buddhist movement followed. Temples, mandalas, and statues were burned and destroyed.

A Timeless Tradition

Today, the Gion Matsuri is a testament to the enduring power of Shinto traditions in Japan. The festival brings communities together in celebration, while also honoring the deities and spirits that are believed to inhabit the floats.

‘This is the festival of all the people in the neighborhood,’ said Jacques Garrigues, a Frenchman who has lived in Kyoto for three decades and who attended the Gion Matsuri procession with his son on Friday.

We also come together through a certain sense of religion, although the religious significance is not the same as in France,’ he added.

Some key participants spend months getting ready for the celebrations. Different neighborhoods prepare their floats with great care and dedication, with many people trusting the floats will drive away evil spirits.

Atsushi Matono is responsible for erecting the shingi, a sacred tree placed at the top of one of the floats — the holiest part of the structure, to which a deity is believed to descend.

‘I always carry out my work with great care and respect,’ Matono said. ‘Feeling the presence of the gods.’

The Gion Matsuri is a celebration that honors the past while embracing the present. It’s a testament to the enduring power of Shinto traditions in Japan and a reminder of the importance of community and respect for the divine.