Latest news with #AoiMatsuri
Elle
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
Everyone's Traveling to Kyoto Right Now—Here's Why
Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. Each spring in Kyoto, more than 500 people in traditional dress process through the streets for Aoi Matsuri, a festival with roots dating back to the 6th century. Some 1,500 years since it began, Aoi Matsuri remains one of Kyoto's most beloved annual events—and it's just one of many festivals held in the city throughout the year. For Gion Matsuri, which lasts for the entire month of July, locals are encouraged to wear summer-weight yukata kimonos to indulge in beer and street food and watch large-scale parades of colorful floats. Unlike the bustling, sometimes-claustrophobic streets of Tokyo, the world's largest city, Kyoto exudes a sense of serenity, a calmness that gives even greater meaning to these special events. Peel back the city's traditional exterior, and you'll find modernity as well: a train station like something out of Blade Runner, filled with immersive digital installations; a thriving contemporary art gallery scene; and, increasingly, a synergy of old and new that inspires creatives and global brands. Chanel presented its latest haute joaillerie collection, 'Reach for the Stars,' there on June 2. And Dior staged an elaborate pre-fall 2025 show in April in the garden of Tō-ji Temple. The lavish affair was inspired in part by former creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri's visit to Kyoto last fall. Her collection drew upon images of 15th- and 16th-century Japanese designs, and she worked with the traditional Japanese fabric company Tatsumura Textile Co. Kyoto is a city of temples, shrines, and gardens, where the annual cherry blossom season draws visitors from around the world and where it is still possible to see geishas promenading through the Gion district. You'll find modern Japanese shopping here, but plenty of traditional treasures, too. According to Toshiyuki Matsubayashi, master potter and 16th-generation leader of Asahiyaki, a revered pottery studio in Kyoto, what sets his city apart is that its history has not merely been preserved, but celebrated as an essential element of daily life. The interplay of the past with more contemporary domains of design, art, and hospitality is what helps his family-owned, 400-year-old business survive. His workshop now offers an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour to guests of the Park Hyatt Kyoto—an opening up of traditional methods perhaps unthinkable 100 years ago. Hotels are also experiencing a renaissance—which helps explain why luxury travel adviser network Virtuoso reports that its Kyoto bookings for 2024 spiked 115 percent over the prior year. (Visitors to Japan overall grew 47 percent from 2023 to 2024, and Japan was the most popular country on social media, per a study by Titan Travel.) Kyoto was long known for the ryokan—a type of traditional inn with paper walls, tatami floor mats, and communal onsen hot spring baths. That all changed with the 2020 arrival of the Ace Hotel Kyoto—a complete reimagining of the Kyoto Central Telephone Exchange building by star architects Kengo Kuma & Associates, with Los Angeles-based Commune Design doing the interiors. It's part of a wave of international hotel brand openings that is just now reaching full steam. The Six Senses Kyoto opened last year in the preserved historic district of Higashiyama, enhancing its impeccable five-star wellness concept with Japanese touches—its spa features an Alchemy Bar where guests can blend their own bespoke beauty scrubs with ingredients reflecting Japan's 24 sekki, or micro-seasons. Last year also marked the opening of the nearby Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto, built to blend into the mountainous landscape surrounding the city, and the first hotel in Kyoto to have an in-house Noh stage. This fall brings the arrival of the glittering Capella Kyoto, designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates and Brewin Design Office, with a design informed by wabi-sabi aesthetics and Zen gardens. Perhaps most exciting of all, next year the Japanese hotel group Imperial Hotel, Ltd. will unveil the extensively restored and renovated Imperial Hotel, Kyoto, in the landmarked Yasaka Kaikan, a former theater where geishas and their maiko trainees once performed. The architectural firm Obayashi Corporation will oversee construction, while interior design will be done by New Material Research Laboratory Co., a Japanese design firm that specializes in the modern use of traditional Japanese construction methods and natural materials. Their brief for the new Imperial? Old is new. This story appears in the Summer 2025 issue of ELLE. GET THE LATEST ISSUE OF ELLE
The Mainichi
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
The Mainichi News Quiz Answer for May 19
What is the name of the historic Kyoto festival, featuring a procession of about 500 people in aristocratic costumes, held annually on May 15? A) Gion Matsuri B) Aoi Matsuri C) Tenjin Matsuri D) Jidai Matsuri Correct Answer: B) Aoi Matsuri Kyoto's early summer Aoi Matsuri drew around 33,000 spectators this year on May 15. The festival, dating back to the sixth century, featured around 500 participants dressed in traditional aristocratic costumes. They marched approximately 8 kilometers through central Kyoto, reenacting an imperial procession from the Heian period.
The Mainichi
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
The Mainichi News Quiz for May 19
How closely have you been following events in Japan? Try The Mainichi News Quiz to test your news knowledge. Ready? What is the name of the ancient Kyoto festival, featuring a procession of about 500 people in aristocratic costumes from the Heian period, held annually on May 15? A) Gion Matsuri B) Aoi Matsuri C) Tenjin Matsuri D) Jidai Matsuri
The Mainichi
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
Horseback archery ritual held to pray for safety of iconic Kyoto festival
KYOTO -- A "yabusame," or horseback archery, ritual was held at a Shinto shrine in this ancient Japanese capital to pray for the safety of the famed Aoi Matsuri, one of Kyoto's three major festivals. The thrilling May 3 event captivated a large crowd of spectators who gathered in the verdant Tadasu no Mori forest on the Shimogamo Shrine grounds in Kyoto's Sakyo Ward. The ritual marks the beginning of the Aoi Matsuri and is dedicated to praying for peace. According to Shimogamo Shrine, while "yabusame" is known as a samurai event, it originally derived from an event for court nobles, which is why horseback archery is conducted in both court and samurai attire. Approximately 1,500 seats were prepared on May 3, and the shrine reported that around 20,000 people gathered. Twenty archers on horseback dashed through a roughly 400-meter-long course, with three targets set at 100-meter intervals. Each clanging sound that accompanied a successful hit elicited loud cheers from the audience. The Aoi Matsuri will culminate on May 15 with the "Roto-no-gi" procession through the city, featuring the festival's heroine called "Saio-Dai" and others in splendid period attire. (Japanese original by Saki Hidaka, Kyoto Bureau; video by Hiroyuki Ota, Kyoto Bureau)
The Mainichi
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
Kyoto Aoi Matsuri's heroine undergoes purification ritual ahead of festival
KYOTO -- The Aoi Matsuri festival's heroine "Saio-Dai" underwent a purification ritual on May 4 at Kamigamo Jinja shrine in Kyoto's Kita Ward as the fine weather attracted many families and tourists to the sightseeing spot amid Japan's Golden Week holiday period. This year, Aya Yamauchi, a second-year graduate student at Tokyo University of the Arts, and a native of Kyoto's Sakyo Ward, serves as the 67th Saio-Dai. The 25-year-old entered the shrine grounds on May 4 clad in a "junihitoe" 12-layered ceremonial kimono. She was accompanied by a procession of about 50 women, including "warawame" (young girls) and "uneme" (court ladies), all dressed in vibrant traditional attire. Amid the sounds of ancient court music, she purified herself by dipping her fingertips into the Mitarashi River, then blew onto a wooden human-shaped doll and set it afloat in the clear stream to cleanse away any impurities. Yamauchi said, "The 'junihitoe' dress carried a lot of weight. I feel solemn." The Aoi Matsuri, one of Kyoto's three major festivals, is an annual celebration jointly held by Kamigamo Jinja shrine and Shimogamo Shrine, featuring a procession of participants dressed in Heian-period (794-1185) court attire, starting from the Kyoto Imperial Palace and visiting both shrines. The festival will be held May 15. (Japanese original by Yuki Ohigashi, Kyoto Bureau)
