Ashikari Yama of Gion Matsuri Festival

The information of Ashikari Yama is presented here. Ashikari Yama is a small-sized Yamahoko float (Kakiyama float), and its symbol is a pine tree reaching vertically to the sky. The Goshintai (deity figure) of Ashikari Yama is an old man dressed in a Noh costume and suikan, standing in a field of reeds with a sickle in his right hand and a reed in his left. The costume of the Goshintai (deity figure) is said to be the oldest among all the Yamahoko floats.

• Location Map ＆ Directions
• History and Brief Overview
• Features (subject to change)
• Events (confirmation required)

【Ashikari Yama Location Map ＆ Directions】

Address: Ashikariyama-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Access (How to get there): Subway Shijo Station (about 12 minutes on foot), Hankyu Karasuma Station (about 14 minutes on foot)
Location: Ashikari Yama is located on Ayanokoji-dori, about 80 meters west of the intersection of Nishinotoin-dori (north-south) and Ayanokoji-dori (east-west).

【Ashikari Yama History and Brief Overview】

The origin of Ashikari Yama (芦刈山) is not clear. In the “Gionshaki”, which describes the names of Yamahoko floats and places in the middle of the Muromachi period (1336-1573) before the Onin War (1467-1477), it is written as “Sumiyoshi Yama すみよし山 (between Ayanokoji Aburakoji and Nishinotoin)”, and Ashikari Yama is said to have already been founded before the Onin War. It is known that there was a Yamahoko float called “Sumiyoshi Yama” in present-day Ashikariyama-cho, which no longer exists. Incidentally, the “Gionshaki” describes “Ashikari Yama (Shijo Inokuma)” and “Ashikari Yama (Nishikikoji Higashinotoin)” and says that two “Ashikari Yama” were built by two other towns. It is also said that there was also an “Ashikari Yama (between Nishiki Karasuma and Muromachi). Ashikari Yama is said to have been founded around 1496 because Ashikari Yama was written as “23rd Ashikari Yama between Ayakoji and Nishinotoin” in the Kujisadamesho when Gion Matsuri Festival was revived in 1500 after the Onin War. After that, it was often damaged by fires and wars, and was rebuilt each time.

★Ashikari Yama is derived from the yokyoku “Ashikari”, which is said to have been written by Zeami, in which an old man who was separated from his wife and was lonely and selling reeds, is reunited with his wife for the first time in three years. The old man was separated from his wife because of poverty, and his wife went to the capital (Kyoto) to serve the court and eventually became wealthy. One day, his wife became curious about her ex-husband, and when she went looking for him, she found that he had fallen into poverty and was cutting and selling reeds in Namba-no-Ura (Osaka). The couple reunited, recited waka poems, and became reconciled and returned to the capital (Kyoto) together. It is said that the yokyoku “Ashikari” originated from the song story “Yamato Monogatari” written in the Heian period (794-1185). In the “Yamato Monogatari,” the woman becomes the second wife of a nobleman, gives her ex-husband a kimono when they meet again, and returns to the capital (Kyoto) alone, but with a sense of pity.
★Zeami was born as the son of Kan’ami, the sarugaku (Noh) master of the Yamato sarugaku Yuzaki-za. He performed with the Yuzaki-za from an early age and also studied under Chikuso Chigon at Hugan-ji Temple in Toichi District, Yamato Province (Nara). He performed in the Sarugaku (Noh) play staged by Kan’ami at the Ima Kumano Shrine in Kyoto, which attracted the attention of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the 3rd Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, and earned him the patronage of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Zeami and Kan’ami developed the sarugaku into the ethereal Noh (Mugen Noh), and Zeami wrote the Noh play treatises “Fushikaden” and “Hanagami.
*reference・・・Ashikari Yama website

【Features (subject to change)】

★Ashikari Yama weighs about 0.64 tons. (2008 Data) Ashikari Yama is marked by a pine tree reaching into the sky.
★The Goshintai (deity figure) is an old man dressed in a Noh costume and suikan, standing in a field of reeds with a chukei (wide fan) on his chest, a sickle in his right hand and a reed in his left hand. The costume of the Goshintai (deity figure) is said to be the oldest of all the Yamahoko floats. On the head of the Goshintai (deity figure), there is an inscription in ink that reads, “Made in June of the 6th year of the Tenmon period (1537) by Shichijo Buddhist sculptort Unkei’s 7th grandson, Kokei”, and it was made in 1537 during the Sengoku period (1493-1590) by Kokei, a descendant of Shichijo Buddhist sculptort Unkei. The head of the Goshintai (deity figure) is now replaced by a replica made in 2000. The former costume of the Goshintai (deity figure), Ayajishimekiri Chobotanmon katamikawari kosode, has an inscription dated 1589 of the Azuchi Momoyama period (1573-1603) and is said to be the oldest costume among all the Yamahoko floats. The former costume is designated as an important cultural property and is usually kept in the National Museum.
★The dantsu “Gyoshi” of the mae-kake (front) and the miokuri (back) of the tsudureori “Tsuru-zu” are original drawings by Yamaguchi Kayo, and the “Kakitsubata-zu” of the do-kake (side) is an original drawing by Ogata Korin. There are also “Tsurukame Shokukomon Nishikigire” of the former do-kake (side) made in the Edo period (1603-1868) and “Shishi Shokukomon Shuchin Kosode” made in the Edo period.
★The metal fittings of the ranbuchi were designed by Kawabe Kakyo, and were made by Fujiwara Kankyo in 1903.
★Chimaki, which has the benefits of marital bliss and marriage, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, etc. are available for purchase.

【Events (confirmation required)】

★In Former Festival Yoiyama from July 14th to July 16th, Komagata-chochin lanterns of Ashikari Yama are lit and Gion-bayashi (Gion Matsuri music) is played in the evening.
★In Former Festival Yamahoko-Junko (Float Procession, Yamaboko Parade) on July 17th, Yamahoko floats, including Ashikari Yama depart from Shijo-Karasuma and parade along Shijo-dori, Kawaramachi-dori, and Oike-dori.

【Ashikari Yama of Gion Matsuri remarks】
*Events may be rescheduled or cancelled. Also, the content of the event may have changed.
祇園祭2025日程一覧（宵山屋台・山鉾巡行・・・）