Ayagasa Boko’s umbrella shape hearkens back to the festival’s earliest 9th-century days, when the floats started as different kinds of halberds, banners and other tall pole-type instruments that could be carried. This float’s dynamic musical score features costumed members whirling and drumming simultaneously, a unique offering among the yamaboko. It’s derived from nenbutsu odori, a 10th-century ritualistic performance wherein the beat of drums and bells accompanied dancing and Buddhist mantra chanting. Ayagasa Boko’s dance and music combination may be some of the most historically authentic of today’s festival: it resembles a 17th century painting of the Gion Festival on a folding screen owned by Kyoto’s Buddhist University. Due to evidence like this painting, some accounts argue that the Gion Festival historically included dance and ritual theater, as well as music.
Read More: https://www.gionfestival.org/ayagasa-boko/
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