Miyako-Odori（Traditional Spring Dance Festival in Gion,Kyoto)

"Miyako-Odori" is traditional Spring Dance Festival,

 in the heart of Kyoto’s historic entertainment district, Gion.

This traditional Maiko Dance Festival is held April 1- April 30.

There are four performance daily-(12:30,14:00,15:30,16:50).

The Dance performance is held at this theater in Gion.

A lot of people visit here today.The weather is very good.

This orange light pole shows sponsor's name of this show.

The promoter of this show said,

"Honestly,we hesitated to hold the event this year,

we thought we should exercise self-restraint,

but we want to cheer up many people,

we want to cheer up Japan now,

and we want to donate the profits to stricken area,

so we decided to hold the event this year."

At the entrance,Maiko and staff women are appealing us

 to contribute to donation for Tohoku people,

wishing early restoration of stricken area.
Japanese Red Cross
http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/l4/Vcms4_00002070.html

We have still other 30 minutes before the show starts,

so during the time,Maiko entertain us with green tea and sweets. 

She makes teas for us.

And left blue maiko brings us teas.

These are green tea and sweets.

We can bring this dish back home as souvenir.

Now she is taking a break.

This is like Japanese traditional painting...

These are theater where the performance is held.

Once the show starts,taking photos is forbidden.

So I can't tell how wonderful the show was...

It was so good!

You can see this Dance show until April 30,

This show is really worth seeing!

http://www.miyako-odori.jp/odori_en.html

Please check this website.

This poster tells us about another Dance Festival in Gion.
This Festival is "Kyo-Odori".
http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~miyagawacho/kyo-odori.html
Please check this website.

These kind of Maiko Dance Festivals are held everywhere in Kyoto in April.

This poster tell us about Night light-up of Kodaiji-Temple.

Everyone can enjoy cherry blossoms in the night.

Kodaiji-Temple is very famous,it is one of popular spot in Kyoto.

http://www.kodaiji.com/e_index.html

Please check this website.

April is good season to visit Kyoto.Cherry blossms are in their full,

and a lot of interesting events are held everywhere.

Baikasai ーKitano-Tenmangu (Tea ceremony)ー（梅花祭 北野天満宮） ②

Her kimono is an arabesque design.It is beautiful.

Pink plums are in their full.

This is "Darari-Obi".

As you know,this type of obi is peculiar to "Maiko" (young girl),

After they graduate "Maiko",they become "Geiko".

And "Geiko" wears different types of obi,which is called "Taiko-musubi".

The woman (left) wearing green kimono is "Geiko",

and the girl (center) is "Maiko".

The plum trees are covered with blossoms.

She entertains the guests  with hot green tea.

She smiled tenderly.

The plum flowers are in their full glory now.

We hold this celemony in every Feburary 25 in Kitano-Tenmangu.

So if you visit Kyoto,please take part in this tea celemony with your friends or family. 

Baikasaiー Kitano-Tenmangu (Tea ceremony) （梅花祭 北野天満宮） ①

On February 25,we held "Baikasai" in Kitano-Tenmangu.

A lot of people visit here today to see beautiful maiko and geiko girls!

They entertain guests with hot green tea.

This ceremony has long history, about 900 years.

Please enjoy photos.

This is "Geiko".She put on "Taiko-obi".

She already graduated "Maiko".

To be coutinued....

Kyoto-Sweets (京菓子）

These are Kyo-gashi.

They're colorful and the shape is cute.

They're like jelly coated with sugar,so the feel of them are a bit hard.

These are Namagashi,soft Japanese sweets.

These are sweets of elaborate craftsmanship.

So if you visit Kyoto,please try these Kyo-gashi by all means.

The website below shows the process of creating Kyo-gashi,please visit it.

http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/fukuyaky/sub-5.htm  →Fukuya shop

Fukuya（富久屋） is a good sweets store in Kyoto.

(Address:Nakagyo-ku,Nishinokyo)

Kyo-Ningyo ー Tanaka Doll Shop (京人形 田中彌） in Kyoto

If you visit Kyoto,I recommend "Tanaka Doll Shop".(京人形　田中彌）

You can see these all dolls in this shop.

web http://www.kyoto-wel.com/shop/S81010/

This is long-established famous shop since 1808.

(Attention: The dolls change every season.)

The above three pictures are "Hina-ningyo".

We celebrate the Girls' Festival on March 3.

Parents who have little girl display these kind of dolls in their house on that day.

The above three pictures are "Ichimatsu-ningyo".（市松人形）

These are originally a doll for dress-up.

These are traditional craft in Japan.

Kyoto girl in ancient times.

These are good for souvenir when you visit Kyoto,I think.

The bean-scattering ceremony in Yoshinoyama,Nara （節分 吉野山）

We are in Mt.Yoshino now.

This steep stairs leads to the Big Temple,Kinpusenji.

We're having the bean-scattering ceremony ,

and some other events in this temple tonight.

Many people gather here for the ceremony,

including people from a distant place.

web  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao0c-NleQEY

Can you see the ogres in the darkness? Can you see their horns?

The  young people disguise themselves as devils.

(They're menbers of young men's association in this town.)

We throw beans toward them,to exorcise evil spirits from us.

The bean scattering is our custom early in February.

Every year on Feburary 3,we scatter beans,all over the country.

This day is called "Setsubun" （節分）in Japan.

And we eat sushi (which is rolled in seaweed with various ingredients).

Another performance started in the temple.His performance is acrobatic,using torches.

It's his showtime now!

Next,beating drum performance started.

A young lady play the drums very skillfully.

Her performance is so powerful that our evil spirits are all gone and dissapear!  

May this year be happy and healthy for you,too!