The roots of the Gion Festival or matsuri reach to 869 C.E.. At that time, a terrible plague spread throughout the city, killing many people. Then, as now, July in Kyoto was extremely hot, very humid, and prone to torrential downpours. These formed ideal conditions for outbreaks of cholera, dysentery, malaria and other epidemics. Remember, this was before modern medicine and sanitation.
Goryō-e: making peace with angry spirits
But in those days the emperor believed that goryō or angry spirits were spreading illness to punish Kyoto. Goryō-e was a type of ritual to make peace with such spirits. So the emperor called for a goryō-e ritual involving 66 hoko or halberds, one for each region of the land. A halberd is a long spear or flag carried upright. It seems the goryō-e ritual worked, because the next time pestilence struck, the emperor called for another one. Meanwhile, Kyoto’s annual rains and floods ensured that the rituals became tradition. By 970 C.E., the Gion Festival became an annual event. As time passed, the pacification of angry spirits became an extremely elaborate ritual purifying Kyoto, its downtown neighborhoods, people and visitors.
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