I’ve never been in Kyoto during July, so never had the chance to experience Gion Matsuri. Considered one of Japan’s “three great festivals” (Japan is obsessed with a top 3 of everything imaginable, for some reason), it’s a gargantuan affair – taking up the entire month of July, pretty much. For several nights during that month the area around Karasuma-Shijo (on the opposite bank of the Kamogawa from Gion, ironically) is shut down to traffic and hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors swarm the streets, where the mikoshi are displayed amidst a sea of matsuri food and entertainment stands.
The problem, of course, is “July”. I’ve experienced parts of summers in several places in Japan, and so far Kyoto has been the worst. And after last weekend’s historically destructive rains moved out, all of Japan south of Hokkaido has been blanketed by a wave of oppressive heat. Kobe is bad, but one appreciates the 3-4 degrees Celsius cooler it is than Kyoto when one experiences the latter. Yesterday Kyoto was punishingly, absurdly, impossibly hot and humid – 100 degrees Fahrenheit at least, with 60-70% humidity (which is actually not nearly as high as it gets in summer in Kyoto). In short, it was brutal.
Given that, I knew that as painful as it would be, I wouldn’t be able to do my usual routine of obsessively tromping the city. Gion Matsuri is mostly a night affair, so there was at least that – as for earlier, I figured I’d better do something indoors so I checked out the Kyoto National Museum for the first time. Sadly they don’t allow photographs at any of the exhibits (wow), but it was quite good – not how I would choose to spend an ideal day in Kyoto, but exquisitely air-conditioned. I also snapped a few photos of Toyokuni Jinja next door, the shrine to the memory of Hideyoshi, before making the arduous 20-minute walk to the festival quarter. I ducked down along the Kamo path (reopened after its massive flooding) as it was at least shaded down there as the sun set, but it was still an ordeal.
Also, I snapped a pic at Teramachi Sanjo, a spot I’ve visited countless times, just because I couldn’t resist under the circumstances. Termachi is covered, at least…
elianthos80
July 16, 2018 at 2:10 amUwah way hotter than Singapore ( the humid stewy happy days reached 80-83 Farenheit :°D ) . Maybe you could have pulled off your yukata :,) ?
Thank you for sharing the stoically snapped pictures.
Jadefire
July 16, 2018 at 3:46 amI only went to Kyoto in spring and the temperatures were nice. But summer in Kyoto sounds brutal with this heat and humidity. Thanks for hanging in there and taking these beautiful pictures. It looks beautiful and I hope I can visit Gion Matsuri too someday. 🙂
Guardian Enzo
July 16, 2018 at 3:58 amHonestly, the heat was so punishing that even taking pictures felt like too much work – thus it’s so few of them.
Nóra
July 16, 2018 at 3:46 pmHaving lived in Kyoto for a year, I can honestly say the summer months were quite unbearable when it came to humidity (thank god for air conditioning!), so I can completely relate!
Glad you got the chance to experience Gion Matsuri despite the heat! It’s one of the more memorable experiences I have of Kyoto due to the buzzing atmosphere. 🙂
Guardian Enzo
July 16, 2018 at 3:55 pmTokyo was better in the sense that one could quite easily spend all day underground in the vicinity of any major station, and even use underground passages to walk from one neighborhood to another most of the time. Plus. It’s not quite as brutally hot as Kyoto.
Nóra
July 17, 2018 at 1:05 amI passed up the chance to live in Tokyo in favour of Kyoto. Coming from a small island, I think the big city feel of Tokyo intimidated me a little. Comparing the two, do you have a preferred city to live in? I guess each offer their own perks?
Guardian Enzo
July 17, 2018 at 1:33 amKyoto is my favorite city in the world, probably. Kobe is wonderful and actually a better city to actually live in than Kyoto in most ways, but the magic of Kyoto is incomparable. Just not in the summer.
As for Tokyo, I loved it but know many folks who don’t. I loved having every possible niche interest close at hand, the incredible transit, the constant variety from neighborhood to neighborhood. But it’s huge by any standard, there are lots of people almost everywhere popular, and it’s not a stress free environment. I grew up in a big city so that didn’t bother me, but ymmv.
Nóra
July 17, 2018 at 5:14 amThank you so much for your answer! I thought Kobe was wonderful too, with the brief stay I had there so I look forward to seeing your future posts of it and Japan in general. I’m hit with a lot of nostalgia reading your posts, that it makes me want to return to Japan even for a short trip!
Next time I’ll have to take a better look at Tokyo, as I’m sure there’s a lot to see and do there that I haven’t in the past, especially looking at your reply. Thank you :)!
Ronbb
July 17, 2018 at 7:16 pmThank you so much Enzo…any snippet of Kyoto is a treasure! I’m still amazed by their passion and dedication to keep the traditions alive…it’s just so beautiful…and it generates huge economic value, too.
Stay hydrated and sheltered if it gets hard to breathe. FYI — we had a heat wave on the east coast of our country that caused a few people losing their lives… I guess for us up in the north are not equipped to deal with the heat and humidity combined…
Yann
July 18, 2018 at 7:59 pmMy favorite city… (granted… haven’t been to every single one in the world… :P). Sooo jealous, but yeah… I was there only in Spring and Automn 😉
mika163
July 20, 2018 at 5:24 amI feel you. Having spent a super hot & humid summer in Tokyo, I now avoid summers for my trips to Japan so looks like I will never get to experience the Gion Matsuri first hand. Lucky you, heat wave not withstanding.
Guardian Enzo
July 20, 2018 at 6:13 amI spent three summers in Tokyo and I can tell you – as bad as it was, Kyoto is worse. Like, easily tangibly worse. Right now pretty much the whole country is experiencing historic heat (right on the heels of historic rain, but hey = climate change is a myth, right?), but even in a normal summer Kyoto is really bad.