The Kankō Boko community says their name comes from a unique historical episode. During the Warring States Period, Lord Meng Chang of Qi and his men were in a life-or-death situation in Hangu. He needed to escape through the pass in the middle of the night.
Contemporaries admired Lord Chang for welcoming all kinds of people, and recognizing talent where others did not. He’d had taken under his protection a man whose “talent” was to perfectly mimic any sound. With lives at stake, the man made the sound of a cock crowing, so well that the pass guards believed it was dawn. They opened the gate and unwittingly grant the men their freedom.
Until recently most of the Gion Festival floats’ history and culture has been passed to us today by word of mouth. The promise of research calls. Why the Kanko Boko community originally chose this tale for their float’s theme, for example, is currently unclear.
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