Yesterday, in between classes I went to see a yearly event in Kyoto, each October 22nd, on the streets of Kyoto there is a costume procession, a parade which main topic are the different historical ages concerning Kyoto.
The festival is called Jidai Matsuri 時代祭り,Festival of the Historical Ages.
The arrangement of historical periods was from a nearest to the farthest - i.e. from Meiji Period to Heian period.
Actually it was quite fun. The costumes were quite nice. There was a sort of easy-going-ness in the performers (selected among Kyoto citizens, not professional performers)...It was kind of nice bar two things that made me think about other not immediately connected things : Japan's military past and almost absolutely 'trash' present. First one (militarism) was rather strongly felt, especially when a group of very young boys marched with rifles), and with the fact that except few occasions the marchers were predominately men, 60% some kind of warrior type. The second aspect that gave me a not so pleasant feeling was how the young people of the procession (actually come to think about it, the representatives of the modern age) had these blank stares and lack of personality about them, not mentioning the coloured haircuts and strange shoes...
But overall I'm quite impressed by this seemingly grassroots citizen activity that has a very traditional and 'rustic' (in the best way possible) feeling about it.
I did not mistake when I chose to come to Kyoto. It is a marvelous city.
I just wish people had more character...and communicated more.
The festival is called Jidai Matsuri 時代祭り,Festival of the Historical Ages.
The arrangement of historical periods was from a nearest to the farthest - i.e. from Meiji Period to Heian period.
Actually it was quite fun. The costumes were quite nice. There was a sort of easy-going-ness in the performers (selected among Kyoto citizens, not professional performers)...It was kind of nice bar two things that made me think about other not immediately connected things : Japan's military past and almost absolutely 'trash' present. First one (militarism) was rather strongly felt, especially when a group of very young boys marched with rifles), and with the fact that except few occasions the marchers were predominately men, 60% some kind of warrior type. The second aspect that gave me a not so pleasant feeling was how the young people of the procession (actually come to think about it, the representatives of the modern age) had these blank stares and lack of personality about them, not mentioning the coloured haircuts and strange shoes...
But overall I'm quite impressed by this seemingly grassroots citizen activity that has a very traditional and 'rustic' (in the best way possible) feeling about it.
I did not mistake when I chose to come to Kyoto. It is a marvelous city.
I just wish people had more character...and communicated more.
Otherwise, did I mention, unlike any other important and famous Japanese city, in Kyoto there are no high rise buildings,no neon signs and lights, no airport...
It's like an island within the island.
I like it.
I just wish I was not that lonely and had someone to share it with...
P.S. The pictures used here were not taken by me. I still don't own a digital camera... I borrowed some not so bad photos from a classmate of mine in order to tell you about the event with some images from that same day...He went to a different portion of the parade, but I asked him to borrow me these images...
By the way, I had to leave the procession as I was very late for class, so I missed out the Heian period. Hopefully next year October I will be here and see it again?! Who knows, my plans are really very vague now...
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