Gion Matsuri, Kyoto Ashikari-yama

Ashikari-yama is one of the 32 floats that participate in Gion Matsuri of Kyoto, one of the three major festivals in Japan. As seen from the town's name, the Ashikari-yama float has been run by the Ashikari-yama cho since the end of Onin civil war (1467 - 1477), before which floats of the name were operated by two other communities, while ours (Ashikari-yama cho) managed another float called Sumiyoshi-yama.

Ashikari-yama is headquartered in:
Ashikari-yama cho,
West, Nishi-no-Toin, Ayanokoji,
Shimogyo-ku,
Kyoto City,
JAPAN

Kyoto is the root of Japan, and Gion Matsuri is the bloom of Kyoto. Ashikari-yama is an inconspicuous but graceful float of Gion Matsuri. Three years have passed since I moved into the Ashikari-yama area, and I have always indulged myself in the mythic history of Kyoto, which spans over a millennium. The unique atmosphere here dazzles me so much that I sometimes feel as if the globe was turning around Ashikari-yama.

Yamaori Tetsuo
A resident of Ashikari-yama

The Ashikari-yama float features a song of Noh (Japanese traditional dance drama). The song was reportedly produced by Ze-ami, a famous Noh actor and producer, and depicts a man cutting reed all alone by the coast of Naniwa after being separated from his wife. In the relevant Noh play, the couple is finally reunited, and returns to the capital where they used to live together before separation. The couple makes the following verses when they meet after the three-year estrangement:

Husband:
	You are gone and I cut reed, By the seaside of Naniwa; That was a deplorable mistake That e'er makes my heart bleed.
Wife:
	Do not grudge o'er cutting reed, 'Cuz I left you for your good; O I pray the Naniwa's sea That a peaceful life you'll lead.

Before the Onin War (1467 - 1477)

In the long history of Gion Matsuri that spans over more than a millennium, the first reference to floats appears some seven centuries ago, in the Muromachi period. Gion Hon-en-roku reports that Ashikaga Yoshinori, the 6th Shogun of the Muromachi government, resumed Gion Matsuri in 1441 after a cessation, as well as restored some floats and initiated others. Gion Sha-ki counts 14 hoko and 49 yama in the pre-Onin period. Sha-ki also tells us that a float called Sumiyoshi-yama, which no longer exists, used to be headquartered in the present Ashikari-yama area. According to another passage, there were “Ashikari-yama” in two locations (Inokuma-dori and Shijo-dori; and Higashinotoin-dori and Nishikikoji-dori), which host no floats any more.

Restoration after the Onin War

From the section titled “Restoration after the Onin War,” it is presumed that the present Ashikari-yama float was restored by 1496, along with many other floats. The first procession order draw was recorded in 1500, when Ashikari-yama was the 23rd float to go in the nearest festival procession. In that year, 27 floats participated in the festival out of 37 restored.

Historically, many famous drawings have depicted the scene of float procession at the Gion Matsuri festival. Although several major floats often appear in these illustrations, Ashikari-yama is seldom found among them. We hereby present all of the Ashikari-yama pictures that have been identified so far. Unfortunately, another artwork reportedly depicting Ashikari-yama, which is believed to have been at the Shoren-in temple in Awata, has been missing and unidentified.

From Screen Pictures, etc.
(Edo and Meiji periods)


Gion Goryo-e Saiki (1756)	A picture scrollfrom early Edo period	Gion-no Go-hon-ji (Between 1673 and 1680;Owned by Kyoto General Library)

A screen picture from early Edo period "Gion Sairei-zu Byobu" (Owned by Suntory Museum of Art)	A screen picturefrom late Edo period	Kyoto Gion-e Ezu (1894;A color printfrom Meiji period)

From Float Procession Order Bills
(Edo and Meiji periods)


Time Unknown	1892	1904	1909

From Modern Illustrations
(Showa period)


By Matsuda Hajime	By Nishiwaki Yuichi

The Noh play "Ashikari" is reportedly based on Yamato Monoigatari, a verse drama from the Heian period. The basic story is that a wife, who had parted with her husband due to poverty and moved to Kyoto to find a job as a nurse, later meets her ex-husband, who had become a laborer to cut reed. In Yamato Monogatari, however, the wife sadly leaves the man again, as she had been remarried to a nobleman. All other classics featuring the Ashikari story are also categorized as tragedies, with the only one exception of a happy ending: the Noh play "Ashikari."

"Ashikari" as a Noh drama is classified as a kyoran-mono (dramas depicting crazed men or women), and is the unique piece among nearly 200 Noh plays that features and praises the love of a married couple.
The husband in the Noh play is described as a young man, while the Divine Doll of Ashikari-yama assumes the figure of an old man. Another difference for unknown reasons between the two is that the drama is set in a spring, in contrast with the Ashikari-yama float with an autumnal appearance. At the same time, the term "Ashikari" is designated as a word for autumn in poetic tradition.

According to a record, the present Ashikari-yama area (West, Nishinotoin-dori and Ayanokoji-dori), used to headquarter a float called Sumiyoshi-yama before the Onin civil war. Although there are no clues to the details of Sumiyoshi-yama, it must have been a float enshrining a god of voyage or a god of poetry. It is reported that there was a popular Noh song titled "Sumiyoshi," written by On-ami, but no identifiable proofs exist.

A well-known Noh song titled "Takasago," often played on wedding ceremonial occasions, features a husband from Sumiyoshi and a wife from Takasago that love each other very much. The man is a personification of the Sumiyoshi god, and his mask closely resembles the face of Ashikari-yama Divine Doll. It is possible that, though not proven, the divine doll for the Sumiyoshi-yama float was succeeded by Ashikari-yama, in the major restoration following the Onin War. The two have the same characteristic in common: the focus on love between a married couple and on poetry.

* The following texts deal with the same material of Ashikari with certain distinctions; only major differences are mentioned:

- Yamato Monogatiari
Section 148, "Ashikari"; circa 951
Believed to be the source of Noh play, "Ashikari," though the woman gets remarried to a nobleman in Kyoto, and leaves the ex-husband again after meeting, giving him her kimono as a token.

- Shui Waka-shu
Volume 9, Miscellaneous; circa 1005 - 1007
A digested version of Yamato Monogatari

- Konjaku Monogatari-shu
Volume 30, Story 5; "A wife leaves a poor husband and remarries to a nobleman"
The husband's fall is explained as a punishment to what he did in the previous life. His miserable days as a reed-cutter are described realistically.

- Hobutsu Shu
Volume 3
The story of Ashikari (a digested version of Yamato Monogatari) is referred to as an instance of "Gufutoku Ku," or the agony of lacking what one desires (one of the eight major agonies in Buddhism).

- Genpei Josui-ki
Volume 36, "A poor couple in Naniwa
The husband expels his wife, who was so charitable that gave away what little thing they had. The husband's consequent fall leads him to the labor as a reed-cutter.

- Shinto Shu
Volume 7, Section 43; "About Ashikari Myojin"
The woman meets her ex-husband as a reed-cutter after getting remarried to a nobleman. The two dives into the sea and become Ashikari Myojin, or the gods of Naniwa.

- "Ashikari"
Tanizaki Jun-ichiro, Yoshino-kuzu and Ashikari, Iwanami Bunko
The novel quotes the song of Ashikari (see: Story of Ashikari), but has no direct relationship with the original Ashikari.

- "Ashikari"
Kaionji Chogoro, O-cho, Kadokawa Bunko
A modern novelization based on Konjaku Monogatari-shu, combining the story of Ashikari with another tale of a major bandit.

- Kongaku Monogatari Fantasia
Sugimoto Sonoko
* Please wait for close review and comment to come.

English Edition by: miminga