Explainer | Why Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri, Japan’s most famous festival, with its parade of huge floats, is not to be missed

Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri is a spectacle defined by its large wooden floats, which volunteers in traditional garb manhandle around the city to music and chanting

Stalls selling food and beer line the streets. Spectators can now watch from special seating, and gain an understanding of events through translation devices

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Volunteers pull a giant float through the streets of Kyoto during the Gion Matsuri in July 2023. The summer festival with ancient roots is the most famous in Japan. Photo: AFP

Kissa Castañeda

Published: 6:15pm, 27 May 2024Updated: 2:17pm, 21 Jun 2024

A towering float – complete with a wooden pole that easily rises six storeys – heaves into view.

The float is elaborately decorated with tapestries festooned with gold, and has jet-black wheels taller than the average adult. About 50 people surround it, while a few stand guard on the roof and others sit inside.

The focus of spectators gathered at a road junction in Kyoto, Japan, is on the front of the float, where volunteers are pouring water on bamboo slats laid on the ground to help this behemoth slide through a 90-degree turn.

With loud chants and raw power, the volunteers direct the heavy structure through two small turns. Finally, with one big push, they turn the corner and begin moving forward again.

Decorated with a towering central pole, some of the floats in Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri reach up to 25 metres in height. Photo: Kissa Castaneda

The crowd breaks into applause.