2002.05.15.
The Aoi-matsuri Festival is the annual festival of Shimogamo and Kamigamo Shrines. It ranks as one of the three major festivals of Kyoto along with the Gion-matsuri Festival and the Jidai-matsuri Festival. It was held on a large scale during the Heian period (794-1191) and many references to the festival are found in The Tale of Genji (first Japanese novel) and other ancient chronicles. The festival takes its name from the custom of decorating the procession participants and the bulls which are used to pull the carts with hollyhock (aoi) leaves. The procession leaves from the Imperial Palace to make the rounds of Shimogamo and Kamigamo Shrines.

Noryo yuka is a terrace to enjoy dinner in the cool breezes of the evening. Their wooden floors, connected with restaurants, are built over the Kamo River from Nijo-dori St. to Gojo-dori St. in summer (from May 1 to September 30). The custom goes back to the Edo period (1603-1867).

Kyoto Station building is new face of international cultural sightseeing urban Kyoto.

News items we collect in Kyoto and Shiga are carried in here.

Gozan Okuribi, the five sending off fires lit on the five mountains (Daimonji, Hidari-Daimonji, Funagata, Myo-Hou and Toriigata) that surround Kyoto, is a summer-time spectacle of the city.

( Aoi-matsuri, Gion-matusri and Jidai-matsuri )