Bamboo forest of Arashiyama is always bustling
with people and most of them are from overseas. With so many foreign visitors, some
time I feel like walking in the somewhere outside of Japan such as China… There
is the one way to escape from such feeling and coming back to Japan in
Arashiyama. That is “Saigu Procession”.
On
the day of “Saigu Procession” you can enjoy many Japanese wearing traditional
clothes. Every year, it is the annual event held third Sunday of
October so I went to Arashiya that day with my guest to see the procession.
The
place we enjoyed the procession was located just after crossing the Togetsu-kyo
bridge. We could take many photos without bothering traffic. And it was the
place where the procession stops and all associates of the procession is supposed
to be gathered there and supposed to be taken the group photo. It was the best place to take whole procession with backdrop
of the bridge and mountains of Arashiyama.
Those
ancient instruments are associated with Shintoism. It is used for enhancing the
power of deities.
Saigu procession has historical significance
and originally it headed to Ise Shrine, the most important Japanese Shintoism shrine
located between Kyoto and Tokyo. Even president Obama visited there this May
because G8 summit was held in the prefecture of Grand Shrine Ise.
The procession is mainly consisted of
locals.
Talking about the procession consists of people wearing historical costumes, we remind the “Jidaimatsuri” or "Festival of Ages" , its procession starts from the imperial place in Kyoto to Heinan shrine. It is so interesting festival that you can enjoy many traditional costumes but the problem is that it is always clouded with people around the procession. This year, festival of Ages procession was held the next Sunday of Saigu so I expected many people coming to enjoy it. Thet’s why I chose for Saigu procession instead of “Jidaimatsuri”.
After
enjoyed the procession, we climbed up to the Monkey Park located in the almost
top of the mountain. I took about 20 minutes to get to there but on the way to
the destination, my guest could ask me some general questions of Japanese
culture such as the local festivals. It was good change escaping from the noisy
cities and attract with cute monkeys.
Please
be careful, some monkeys would upset to you if you take the photo of them in close
distance.
Before
the Arashiyama, we visited Nijo Castle located nearby my guest accommodation.
On the way to the castle, we stopped in the shrine that has golden tori gate.
It is the shrine associated with metals. There were also water purification basin
to wash coins. Maybe we can expect the purified coins would attract more of
them in your wallet.
Maybe you would notice that my guest wearing
old costume again. Shigureden is the best place to enjoy to experience old aristocrat
culture and avoid crowd of people in Arashiyama.
