Gion Festival

Gion Festival

Gion Festival in Miyada-mura, a summer festival dating back to the Edo period, is held on the 3rd Saturday of every July. Participants carry a mikoshi (portable shrine) around the town.
At night, following a fireworks display, the energetic festival culminates with an event in which the portable shrine is destroyed.
The portable shrine called “Abare mikoshi” continues to be carried half the night, and finally it is repeatedly dropped from the top of the stone steps on the premises of Tsushima-jinja Shrine until it breaks into pieces except its main pillar.
It is believed that if you place a piece of the mikoshi on the roof, you will be blessed with a state of perfect health and prosperous business thanks to its power to ward off evil.
Due to its unique custom, it came to be called “the eccentric festival of the country.”