KYOTO--Tourism officials here are offering premium seats for 400,000 yen ($2,870) each that provide an up-close view of the traditional Gion Festival’s massive float parade on July 17. The Kyoto City ...

PrequelIn the highlight of the Gion Festival / Yamahoko cruise, we talked about from the longest sword hill to the mountains, but in the second half we will tell from Oil Tenjinyama to Mt. Yamaboshi ...

KYOTO, Japan >> The procession of yama (small) and hoko (large) floats traveled beneath huge thunderclouds at the Gion Festival in Kyoto. In scorching heat, the decorative floats were pulled along ...

KYOTO--The streets here were bathed in the glow of lantern lights and filled with the sounds of music as the floats were shown to the public two nights before the famed Gion Festival’s main float ...

People watch a float illuminated by lanterns during the Gion Festival in Kyoto, Japan, on July 23, 2024. The Gion Festival, which lasts throughout the entire month of July, is an annual traditional ...

"Yamahoko" floats parade in Kyoto's Shimogyo Ward in the "saki-matsuri" event of the Gion Festival on July 17, 2022. (Mainichi/Kazuki Yamazaki) The Gion Festival yamahoko float federation's ...

KYOTO -- The annual summer Gion Festival began in Japan's ancient capital on July 1, with a child in the costume of a "divine messenger" performing a ritual at Yasaka Shrine to pray for the safety of ...

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 ...