Kyoto City of Zen. Judith Clancy

      Decades of experience are needed to become a master weaver: an understanding of the textures and colors of the threads to be selected, along with the technical dexterity of managing all the spindles and shuttles involved in producing a single obi.

      An exquisite array of dyed silk skeins fills several walls at Kawamura Weavers in Nishijin.

      Katsuji Yamade applies hot liquid wax to a length of silk hung across his studio and held in place with bamboo stays. He will decorate the entire length before the cloth is sent to the steamers for fixing the dyes and then to a seamstress for assembly.

      A careful selection of colored silk is readied to bring to the loom.

KYOTO’S

      AMAZING FESTIVALS

      As the men lift a one-ton portable shrine unto their shoulders, they cry out “Hoitto, hoitto” to announce that local gods are on their way. There are few places in the world where communities celebrate festivals as enthusiastically as in Kyoto. These impressive events have evolved into gorgeous pageants laden with cultural richness. Embodied in the festivals’ aesthetic element, is the serious business of appeasing and pleasing the myriad Japanese gods who love to be entertained by their descendants, the Japanese people, who in turn love to celebrate their deities.

      Festival time brings a variety of customs that are synchronized in the cultural heart of Kyotoites. Families display treasured heir-looms and offer charms to dispel ill health. Gods are moved from their home shrine to a smaller more distant one. Massive portable shrines are jostled on the shoulders of men, exuberantly shouting hoitto hoitto or solemnly pulled through the capital streets to the musical accompaniment of transverse flutes and bells. Their path is aflutter with kimono sleeves, while sky-high halberts sway in the air above.

      The Gion Festival, one the city’s oldest, is now designated an intangible World Heritage. This mid-summer extravaganza culminates in two solemn processions on July 17 and 24. Other activities such as assembling the floats, practicing gion-bayashi music, selecting participants, and preparing offerings all require community effort. Households in each district contribute money for upkeep of the floats and carts, costumes, and attendant expenses. All ages are recruited, from the young boys who sit atop the floats playing instruments, to the men who slowly pull the massively heavy floats through the streets. Another two men stand astride the front of each float giving directions with a delft flicks of handheld fans. Despite the sweltering heat and hours of organizing, participation in this cultural heritage is a coveted honor.

      The floats themselves have been transformed into moving museums with heavy European tapestries and ornate lengths of Chinese embroidered silk that traders brought into the county over 400 years ago. To the Japanese artisans and merchants with the prescience to recognize the novel beauty of these imported fabrics, the subtly colored pigments and elegantly fine needlework bespoke different cultures and societies; they conjured worlds inhabited by unknown artists whose skills were revealed through their handiwork.

      The Aoi Festival on May 15 is a procession and pageant that takes a whole day to unfold. Glistening black oxen pull black lacquered carriages dripping with wisteria blossoms through the streets of Kyoto. Ladies in ancient court attire sit resplendent inside. Attendants and men dressed as courtiers walk alongside. They all accompany the female messenger of the Imperial court as she bears a greeting to the chief priest of the Kamigamo Shrine. Along the way, the procession stops at the Shimogamo Shrine where “courtiers” in ancient garb display archery skills. They shoot their arrows while perched on wooden saddles set on bedecked and tasseled horses. After a break for refreshment in the shrine, the procession continues through the streets and along the Kamo River. The hypnotically slow pace and the creaky swaying motion of the ox-drawn carts impart an atmosphere of timelessness.

      Kyoto’s third great festival, Jidai Matsuri is held annually on October 22. This newer Festival of the Ages showcases Kyoto’s 1,200-year history in a visual display of the city’s position as arbiter of design and tradition. Costumes reflect back a thousand years to when women of the 9th century court donned twelve layers of diaphanous silk kimono. The display extends into the late 19th century, when the appearance of Japanese men in suit and tie signaled the country’s opening to Western fashion, culture, and science.

      Even today, the weaving and dyeing industries of Kyoto continue to contribute their artistic acumen in researching and renewing the intricate weaves and dyes that reflects centuries of textile techniques.

      In addition to providing a gorgeous entertainment for native and tourist alike, Kyoto’s festive pageantry continues after a thousand years to reassure believers that the gods remain aware of their petitioners’ desire for safety and peace.

      Dancing flames and flying sparks electrify the evening sky as Mountain Ascetic monks (Yamabushi) of the Shingon Buddhist sect prepare the coals for the annual fire-walking ceremony in which participants pray for prolonged good health. The summer event is held at Tanukidani Fudomyo-in temple located up an approach steep enough to ably test one’s health and endurance.

      Japan’s largest and most popular shrine is Fushimi Inari Taisha, founded in 711, in the southeastern district of Kyoto. On a summer evening of July 21, red lanterns illuminate the shrine precincts during the Motomiya Festival as visitors walk through hundreds of red torii gates to pray for prosperity. The view is of the Roumon Gate.

      The month of July is filled with events connected to the Gion Matsuri festival, including processions of massive floats on July 17 and 24 bringing Kyoto’s treasures into public view. Yukata-clad men at the bow of the Ofune Hoko, are pulling the boat-shaped float with twisted straw ropes through the streets. Young boys similarly clad sit on the upper level of the boat performing Gionbayashi music on flutes and cymbals.

      A young man in formal festival wear on the morning of a procession. The designs on the clothing identifies to which float the participant is connected.