Shijō Kasa Boko 四条傘鉾 — An Umbrella and Children’s Dance
Local residents reintroduced Shijō Kasa Boko to the festival in 1988, after a 117-year absence. As you can imagine, this is no small undertaking. Today the Shijō Kasa Boko shows us what some of the Gion Festival floats probably looked like in the Muromachi Period (1337–1573). History tells us the floats started out as pikes or halberds. Eventually, over centuries, they morphed to their current forms.
The highlight of the Shijō Kasa Boko is its children’s dance and music. With Ayagasa Boko, it’s unique in the Gion Festival saki matsuri‘s July 17 procession. In the dance, two boys wear costumes and “bear wigs” wave long poles in a lively dance. And six more boys accompany the dance with various percussion instruments: bells, drums, and clave sticks.
