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This year, with the collaboration of Tomoe Sawano, heritage walker, we had prepared two Gion Matsuri walking tours, on 7/12 and 7/15. On 7/12, we started with having a close look at 6 hoko floats. Sawano-san told us about their history and particularities and we saw different stages of float assembling. Kanko Boko float was being decorated with its tapestries :
At the beginning of the tour, Tsuki Hoko was still at the "Nawa garami" phase (securing the wooden float base with ropes) :
Hoka Boko was arranging its upper part :
After that, we were lucky to watch how the float was put to the vertical position :
That day, Sawano-san was so kind to let us in her father's Sawano Dogen Restoration Studio.
Kannon Bodhisattva statue and its lotus-shaped pedestal :
The hat which will be used by one of the pullers of Minami Kannon float during the Ato-matsuri parade on July 24th :
We finished our tour by participating in the trial pulling of Tsuki Hoko float :
It was a great experience for us all, to learn more about the Gion festival and to feel its atmosphere.
After that, we were lucky to watch how the float was put to the vertical position :
