Kangensai Fes
Date:June 17th (Wed)
Location: Itsukushima Shrine and other shrines
Konnichiwa deom Hiroshima Hana Hostel, It's Kana here.
Hiroshima is in the middle of rainy season right now, so it's raining and humid almost everyday..
But once rain season is over, Summer will come!!Can't wait!!!
There are many different events are held in Miyajima almost every month. Kangensai is one of famous one it is held in June.
The Kangensai Festival reproduces a dynastic spectacle of the
Monarchial Age on June 17th of the lunar calender, and has become one of
the greatest festival of Itsukushima Shrine. When Taira-no-Kiyomori was
appointed the governor of Aki Province in 1146, he remodeled
Itsukushima Shrine and dedicated various kinds of treasure and
performing arts to show his devout faith to the gods of the shire.
Kangen is, to be exact, court music played with three strings (Wagon,
biwa ,koto), three drums (Kakko, taiko, shoko), and three flutes (sho,
hishikiri, ryuteti).
Though in the capital, they played court music for entertainment,
kiyomori dedicated it to Itsukushima Shrine, and instead of floating a
Ryuto-gekishu boat (a boat with a carved dragon head and waterfowl neck
decoration in front) in the court pond or in the river, he floated the
boat in the sea.
The date was fixed as June 17th of the lunar calendar, considering the
weather conditions. As they needed big boats to carry a large number of
players, they must have used trading vessels to China. The tide should
be high enough for deep-draft vessels to touch down, so they chose the
day when the spring tide occurs in June, avoiding the typhoon season in
July and August. The reason they fixed the day as 17th is that the moon
on that day is nearly full. It's the best time to come back from Jigozen
Shrine on the mainland to Miyajima, looking up at the moon that appears
by the edge of the mountain on Miyajima.
It's always good to know the history before joining anything!
Let's enjoy Japanese traditional festival together!!
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