大文字
京都では毎年祇園祭の前夜祭である宵山前後に梅雨が明け、いよいよ本格的な夏が始まります。山鉾が洛中を巡行してから8月の大文字の送り火までの約一ヶ月、容赦のない厳しい暑さが続くのです。8月16日の送り火当日には、8時の点火まで待ちきれず、夕方と言ってもまだ明るいギャラリーの前を浴衣姿の若者や子供達が少し高揚した話し声で笑いながら楽しそうに通って行くのは毎年の光景です。
8時、都大路の広告灯が消された暗い東山の夜空に大文字が点火されると、5分間隔で松ヶ崎の「妙法」、西賀茂の舟形、大北山の左大文字、嵯峨の鳥居へと五山に火が灯り、人々は夜空へと還っていく大切な人やご先祖様への感謝の思いを込めて見送ります。
京の都と町衆は、1200年の間、何度も繰り返されてきた洛中での争いや疫病蔓延などの災厄を鎮める願いを込め、今も絶やすことなく祇園祭や送り火の行事を大切に守り続けています。
“Daimonji”
In Kyoto, the rainy season ends around Yoiyama, the eve of the Gion Festival every year, and summer in Kyoto finally begins in earnest. The relentless, intense heat continues for about a month from the time the Yamahoko floats parade through the city until the Daimonji bonfire in August.On the day of the bonfire, the wait for the 8:00 p.m. lighting of the bonfire is almost unbearable, and it is a sight every year on August 16 when young people and children in yukata (summer kimono) happily walk past the gallery, which is still bright even in the evening, talking and laughing a little exuberantly.
At 8:00, when the Daimonji pyre in Higashiyama is lit, the five mountains are lit at five-minute intervals: "Myoho" in Matsugasaki, Funagata in Nishigamo, Left Daimonji in Okitayama, and Torii in Saga, and people look off with gratitude to their loved ones and ancestors as they return to the night sky, and summer in Kyoto comes to an end.
The Kyoto metropolis and its townspeople continue to carefully observe the Gion Festival and Okuribi (bonfire) events, which have been repeated many times over the past 1,200 years, in the hope of quelling the plagues and epidemics that have spread throughout Rakuchu (Kyoto).
