The , or "

Hollyhock ''Alcea'' is a genus of over 80 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae, commonly known as the hollyhocks. They are native to Asia and Europe. The single species of hollyhock from the Americas, the streambank wild hollyhock, ...

Festival", (although commonly, but mistakenly identified as "hollyhock", the "aoi" actually belongs to the birthwort family and translates as "wild ginger"—Asarum, as correctly pointed in the Wikipedia article on the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this clan r ...

) is one of the three main annual

festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

held in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

, Japan, the other two being the Festival of the Ages (Jidai Matsuri) and the

Gion Festival The is one of the largest and most famous festivals in Japan, taking place annually during the month of July in Kyoto. Many events take place in central Kyoto and at the Yasaka Shrine, the festival's patron shrine, located in Kyoto's famous Gion ...

. It is a festival of the two Kamo shrines in the north of the city,

Shimogamo Shrine is an important Shinto sanctuary in the Shimogamo district of Kyoto city's Sakyō ward. Its formal name is . It is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan and is one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which have been designat ...

and

Kamigamo Shrine is an important Shinto sanctuary on the banks of the Kamo River in north Kyoto, first founded in 678. Its formal name is the . It is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan and is one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which ...

. The festival may also be referred to as the Kamo Festival. It is held on 15 May of each year.

History

According to the ancient, presumed historical and regarded as accurate with some fantastic embellishments, record '' Nihon Shoki'', the festival originated during the reign of Emperor Kinmei (reigned CE 539 - 571). The ancient records known as the ''Honchō getsurei'' ( 本朝月令) and ''Nenchūgyōji hissho'' (年中行事秘抄) reveal that a succession of disastrous rains with high winds ruined the grain crops, and epidemics had spread through the country. Because diviners placed the cause on divine punishment by the Kamo deities, the Emperor sent his messenger with a retinue to the shrine to conduct various acts to appease the deities, in prayer for a bountiful harvest. These included riding a galloping horse. This became an annual ritual, and the galloping horse performance developed into an equestrian archery performance. According to the historical record known as the '' Shoku Nihongi'' (続日本記, so many people had come to view this equestrian performance on the festival day in the 2nd year of the reign of

Emperor Monmu was the 42nd emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 文武天皇 (42) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Monmu's reign spanned the years from 697 through 707. Traditional narrative Befor ...

(r. 697–707) that the event was banned. In the ninth century,

Emperor Kanmu , or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kanmu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the sco ...

established the seat of the

imperial throne Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, T ...

in Kyoto. This represented the beginning of the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

in Japanese history. Emperor Kanmu recognized the deities of the Kamo shrines as protectors of the Heian capital, and established the Aoi Matsuri as an annual imperial event.Aoi, 2007 The festival saw its peak of grandeur in the middle of the Heian period, but this waned in the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

and the following

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

, and as the nation entered the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, the festival procession was discontinued. In the

Genroku was a after Jōkyō and before Hōei. The Genroku period spanned the years from the ninth month of 1688 to the third month of 1704. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 415. The period w ...

era (1688–1704) of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, it was revived, but in the 2nd year of the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

(1869), when the capital was moved from Kyoto to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, observance of the festival procession stopped. In Meiji-17 (1885), it was again revived as part of a government plan to enliven Kyoto. All but the rituals at the shrine fronts were discontinued from 1944, due to the Pacific War. At last, the festival procession started to be held again from 1953. The ''Saiō-Dai'' festival princess tradition was initiated in 1956. The '' Saiō'' (斎王) was an unmarried female member of the Japanese imperial house. The festival is named after the

hollyhock ''Alcea'' is a genus of over 80 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae, commonly known as the hollyhocks. They are native to Asia and Europe. The single species of hollyhock from the Americas, the streambank wild hollyhock, ...

(''aoi'') leaves used as decoration throughout the celebration as well as offerings to the gods. During the Heian Period, these leaves were once believed to protect against natural disasters such as earthquakes and thunder, and were often hung under the roofs of homes for protection. The plants used in the Aoi Matsuri may not be hollyhock, but possibly wild ginger. Although due to the rarity of these plants, other plants with similarly shaped leaves have been used in the festival instead, such as the leaves of the

katsura tree ''Cercidiphyllum'' is a genus containing two species of plants, both commonly called katsura. They are the sole members of the monotypic family (biology), family Cercidiphyllaceae. The genus is native plant, native to Japan and China and unrelate ...

Festival events

There are several events that take place during the month, but the most important event is on 15 May. There are two parts to Aoi Matsuri: the procession (''rotō-no-gi'') and the shrine rites.Frang, 2002 The procession is led by the Imperial Messenger. Following the imperial messenger are: two oxcarts, four cows, thirty-six horses, and six hundred people. The six hundred people are all wearing traditional dress of Heian nobles (''ōmiyabito''), while the oxcart (''gissha'') is adorned with artificial

wisteria ''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north ...

flowers. The procession starts at 10:30 on May 15 and leaves the

Kyoto Imperial Palace The is the former palace of the Emperor of Japan. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1869, the Emperors have resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, while the preservation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace was ordered in 1877. Today, the grounds are open t ...

in front of the main gate ''Kenreimon'' (建礼門) and slowly works its way towards the

and finally the

.Shively, 1999 When they finally arrive at both shrines, the ''Saiō-Dai'' and Imperial Messenger perform their rituals. The ''Saiō-Dai'' simply pays her respects to the deities and the Imperial Messenger intones the imperial rescript praising the deities and requesting their continued favor. There are two main figures in the ''Aoi Matsuri'': the ''Saiō-Dai'' and the Imperial Messenger. Historically the ''Saiō-Dai'' was a woman of the imperial house who was chosen from the sisters and daughters of the emperor to dedicate herself to the Shimogamo shrine. The role of ''Saiō-Dai'' was to maintain ritual purity and to represent the emperor at the festival. Nowadays, the role of the ''Saiō-Dai'' is a stand-in by an unmarried woman in Kyoto. She has to have the three attributes of wisdom, grace, and social standing. The selection process is strict and the news is announced in the press. It is the highest honour a woman can receive in Kyoto. The ''Saiō-Dai'' is dressed in the traditional style of the Heian court. Traditional Heian court dress for women would be wearing several layers of exquisitely colored silk robes. The ''Saiō-Dai'' wears twelve layers of the traditional style robes (

jūnihitoe The , more formally known as the , is a style of formal court dress first worn in the Heian period by noble women and ladies-in-waiting at the Japanese Imperial Court. The was composed of a number of kimono-like robes, layered on top of each oth ...

). To maintain

ritual purity Ritual purification is the ritual prescribed by a religion by which a person is considered to be free of ''uncleanliness'', especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may ...

, the ''Saiō-Dai'' goes through several ceremonies of purification before the procession of the festival. The Imperial Messenger leads the festival procession on horseback. During the Heian period he would be a Fifth-Rank courtier holding the office of middle or lesser captain and was usually a man destined for high office. His role was to read the imperial rescript of the shrines and present the emperor’s offerings. During the Heian period, the ''Saiō-Dai'' and the Imperial messenger would be accompanied by ten dancers and twelve musicians. Also present during the procession are guards (''kebiishii),'' government officials, civic officials, military retainers, and a delegate from Yamashiro (''Yamashiro-no-Tsukai)''. Also featured at the Aoi Matsuri are horse races (''kurabe-uma''), and demonstrations of

mounted archery A horse archer is a cavalryman armed with a bow and able to shoot while riding from horseback. Archery has occasionally been used from the backs of other riding animals. In large open areas, it was a highly successful technique for hunting, f ...

(

yabusame is a type of mounted archery in traditional Japanese archery. An archer on a running horse shoots three special "turnip-headed" arrows successively at three wooden targets. This style of archery has its origins at the beginning of the Kama ...

). ''"Aoi matsuri,"''
Kyoto City Tourism and Culture Information System. Many things in Kyoto are named after the Aoi.

References

External links

Kyoto Shimbun web site (Japanese only), with various video clips of the Aoi Festival.

Works cited

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090531073520/http://www.asiarooms.com/travel-guide/japan/kyoto/kyoto-festivals-%26-events/aoi-matsuri-%28hollyhock-festival%29.html Aoi Matsuri (Hollyhock Festival). (2009). Retrieved from website on 20 January 2009] * Frang, M. (2002). Rites of Heritage. ''World & I.'' V.17(5): 176. Retrieved from MAS Ultra – School Edition database on 21 January 2009. * Layered Look, The. (1995) ''Civilization''. Mar/Apr. V.2(2): 22. Retrieved from Academic Search Premiere database on 20 January 2009.
Shimogamo Jinja. (2009). Retrieved from website on 21 Jan 2009

Shively, D., Hall, J., McCullough, W. (1999). The Cambridge History of Japan. Retrieved from Google Book Search on 20 Jan 2009
{{Coord missing, Kyoto Prefecture Festivals in Kyoto Religious festivals in Japan Tourist attractions in Kyoto May observances 1885 festivals 1953 festivals 6th-century establishments in Japan Flower festivals in Japan Parades in Japan Cultural festivals in Japan Equestrian festivals Spring (season) events in Japan

History

Festival events

See also

References

External links

Works cited