24日、祇園祭りの「環幸祭」にLSTスタッフといきました。

17日より四条の御旅所に鎮座されていた神様が、
祇園祭発祥の地である御供社に立ち寄って八坂神社へ還られる日です。

八坂神社の舞殿に御神輿が運ばれるまで、
担ぎ手の方々がこれでもかという位、力をふりしぼり、
御神輿を担ぐ姿に圧倒され、本当に感動します。

そして、神聖な「御霊返し」。
うまれて初めて「御霊返し」を目の前で見ました。

舞殿から本殿に神様の御霊を移す神事で、
八坂神社のすべての明かりが消され、暗闇と沈黙の中、行われます。
もちろん写真撮影は不可、携帯電話も切るよう指示があります。
暗闇の中で、神職の方による、時折動く白い布、お琴の響く音が
神秘的で深く感動しました。
31日の「疫神社夏越祭」ですべての祇園祭りの幕が閉じます。

一つひとつの行事に意味がある、祇園祭。
多くの人々に支えられ、受け継がれていくことに、ただただ、感動です。

これからも祇園祭を毎年、見送りたいと思います。

LST WEDDING 京都店　N

Kyoto Gyon Festival　３

On the 24th of July, I went with the LST staff to the「Wasachi Festival」of the Gyon Festival.

On this day, the deity who had been enshrined in the Shijo at the Otanisho on the 17th returns to the place of origin, to the Yasaka shrine.

I was really impressed by all the people shouldering the Omikoshi (portable shrine), summoning up their strength and carrying it into the Maidono (court music pavilion in a Shinto shrine) of the Yasaka shrine.

Moreover, it was the first time I saw a「divine’s departed soul coming back」.

During the Shinto’s ritual, in which the deity was transfered from the Maidono to the main shrine, all the lights were put out. It was in the darkness and the silence that the ritual took place.

Of course, photographs were forbidden and there were instructions to put on hold cellular phones.

The mysterious atmosphere created by the presence of a Shinto priesthood, a white fabric which moved sometimes and the sound of a Koto (a 13-stringed Japanese zither) profoundly touched me.
On the 31th, all the curtains of the Gyon Festival will close with the「Ekijinja Nagoshi Festival」.

Each event happening during the Gyon Festival has a meaning.

I am absolutely impressed by the fact that lots of people support and inherit this festival.

As long as I live in Kyoto, I wish to come to see the Gyon Festival each year.

LST Wedding Kyoto Office　N