葵祭 Aoi Matsuri
本日、悪天候の中、京都三大祭のひとつ葵祭が開催されました。
葵祭とは京都最古の祭（今から１４００年前）で、行列のすべてに葵の葉が飾られてます。
古典行列は平安貴族そのままの姿で列をつくり、京都御所を出発、総勢500名以上の風雅な行列が下鴨神社を経て、上賀茂神社へ向かいます。
下鴨神社と上賀茂神社の例祭で古くは賀茂祭、北の祭りとも言い、平安中期の貴族の間では、単に「祭り」と言えば葵祭のことをさすほど有名であったとされています。
The Aoi Festival is a festival of both the Shimogamo Shrine and the Kamigamo Shrine held in Kyoto City on May 15th. The official name of the festival is Kamo Festival. In the mid-6th century, a serious famine occurred. Emperor Kinmei asked a fortune teller for guidance to handle the problem. The fortune teller told the emperor that the famine was caused by the gods’ anger. Therefore the emperor ordered a ceremonial festival to soften their anger. The festival today is known for its elegant parade with people dressed in classic costumes of the Heian Period.
Aoi Festival’s highlight is its parade with people dressed in classic costumes of the Heian-period. Special carriages called ‘Gosho Guruma’ and oxcarts, which were common 1,000 years ago, can be seen. The name of the festival was derived from the fact that starting in 1694, everything in the procession, such as the people, carts and the oxcarts, became to be decorated with hollyhock leaves, which are called “aoi” in Japanese. The parade starts from the Kyoto Imperial Palace and proceeds through town to the Shimogamo Shrine, and then on to the Kamigamo Shrine. It seems like a reproduction of a historical scene from an ancient scroll
