Gion Matsuri ( During 宵々山)

   Aggh, another much delayed post ;; Internet was out for a while, sorry~ The weekend of July 15th, I went to Kyoto with my host family, and we were able to go to Gion Matsuri ((a very large summer festival in Kyoto's Gion disctrict)). Check it out~ Kyoto's Gion Matsuri

   Anywho, Kyoto is a very special place in Japan. It shows the more traditional, incredibly beautiful side of Japan which I absolutely love. I was looking at a map of Kyoto one night trying to figure out what temples and shrines i wanted to visit the next day, when I decided to to count just how many temples and shrines Kyoto has. The Map I was looking at was not complete, but still I counted over 100 temples and shrines! (: Something else to add to my bucket list: One day, I want to visit all of Kyoto's temples and Shrines!!
   So Gion Matsuri is put on over the whole month of July. The biggest festivities happen on the evening of July 17th, when a large parade and procession moves through the street's of Kyoto's Gion district. We could not be in Kyoto on this night, however, because I had school that day, but we were there on July 15th ((a night called Yoiyoiyama 宵々山).
   My family and Josh's family were staying in a small bed and breakfast in the heart of Gion district. I cannot begin to explain how wonderful it was to wake up on a futon of tatami floors(: haha. So the day of yoiyoiyama, we woke up early to go shopping around town and to eat in a little cafe. It seems everywhere I go, I try to get some sweet that is Matcha flavored, so of course I bought this....It's iced Matcha, and it was delicious haha. Kyoto was definitely the place to buy Matcha goods♥

Saki knew I wanted to try on a yukata while I was in Kyoto, so after she took me to a shop where we both rented beautiful Yukatas for the day~! I was able to cross something off of my bucket list-- Wearing a Yukata at a summer festival~ It was very comfortable ((even the wooden geta shoes))! It ended up raining minutes after Saki and I got out Yukatas on, but the rain did not spoil the day(:
   Because it was really early in the day, Saki and I wanted to take a little tour of Kyoto, so we signed up to take a tour on......on one of these. goodness, I don't even know what this is called in English....Yikes. Haha, it was just a cart pulled by someone. He took us through the streets of Kyoto. So here Saki and I were, sitting in the cart in our Yukata, posing for pictures that strangers were taking of us. haha, it was an interesting experience(:

  Soooooo, the evening of the summer festival.....appearently a few things did not happen that night because of the earlier rain, however, we were still able to walk through the streets of the festival, take pictures in our yukata, and buy Takoyaki and Dango from the street-venders. It was my first summer festival in Japan, and it was a great experience! ♥ Glad I could make these memories!

~*~Here is a video I shot at the festival....not much, but maybe it will give you an idea of what the festival looked like?? (: ~*~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPK3KMdzs5M&feature=youtube_gdata

~Jane Claire   ☆〜(ゝ。∂)