KYOTO, May 04 (News On Japan) –
A purification ritual generally known as the “Misogi no Gi” was held forward of the Aoi Festival, one in all Kyoto’s three main festivals, because the Saio-dai and different contributors underwent a standard cleaning ceremony at Shimogamo Shrine.
The Misogi no Gi is a Shinto ceremony through which the pageant’s central determine, the Saio-dai, together with round 50 ladies who will participate within the procession, purify themselves, with the ceremony alternating annually between Kamigamo Shrine and Shimogamo Shrine.
This yr’s ritual passed off at Shimogamo Shrine, the place Mao Shiomi, the 68th Saio-dai wearing a proper junihitoe gown, first obtained a purification blessing earlier than slowly immersing each fingers into the Mitarashi River flowing by means of the shrine grounds, symbolically cleaning herself. Afterward, she wiped her fingers with paper generally known as “chozugami” and launched it into the river whereas praying for the secure and profitable staging of the pageant.
The Aoi Festival might be held on May fifteenth, that includes the Saio-dai and roughly 500 contributors in a chic procession recreating scenes from the Heian interval as they parade by means of Kyoto’s streets lined with recent spring greenery.
Source: YOMIURI