Priding itself in being virtually unstoppable, the Gion Festival is continuing this year, albeit in a smaller scale than normal years due to Covid.
To prevent the spread of Covid, people have been asked to not gather. A Gion Festival without hundreds of thousands of festival-goers is sobering, but the Gion Festival neighborhood associations, plus representatives from Yasak
Image caption: The golden portable mikoshi shrines for Yasaka Shrine deities are staying at the shrine this year, not being carried through Kyoto streets as usual. Note the lack of shrine visitors. Photo courtesy Jodi NIcholas.
a Shrine (the festival’s patron shrine) and related organizations are carrying out Shinto purification rituals and other essential festival elements with determination and pride in tradition.
The general mood is subdued but upbeat and stalwart, with much focus on prayers for the end of Covid and a return to the usual grand Gion Festival in 2022.
The Gion Festival was begun in the year 869 A.D. to end epidemics plaguing Kyoto and its inhabitants amidst the annual rainy season.
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