Kyoto Events

Kyoto's greatest living treasures are its raucous matsuri (festivals). The city hosts some 500 of these colourful events throughout the year, and almost any visit should provide the chance to catch at least one. Some of the more fascinating festivals include Hatsu Ebisu, 8 to 12 January, where a party is held for Ebisu the patron deity of merchants, and Godai Rikison Ninno-e, 23 February, at which participants lift two gigantic rice cakes: 150kg (330lbs) for men, 90kg (200lbs) for women. Gion Matsuri, 17 July, is perhaps the most renowned of all Japanese festivals, when over 200,000 people throng the Shijo-Karasuma area. Its climax is a Yamaboko-junko parade of over 30 floats accompanied by flutes, drums and gongs. During Daimon-ji Gozan Okuribi, 16 August, enormous fires are lit on five mountains in the form of Chinese characters or other shapes.