Episode Details

Cathrine Pawasarat, author of Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries, is one of the founders of the Clear Sky Retreat Center in British Columbia, Canada. Her previous book is From Wasteland to Pureland: Reflections on the Path to Awakening. The former Kyoto resident talks with us today about Kyoto's most famous event, the Gion Festival that happens every July in the former capital.

Amy starts out the podcast describing Kyoto's Gion Festival, the giant floats with the tall towers on the top as they parade down the street among crowds of bystanders. Catherine explains that Kyoto's neighborhoods work year-round on the preparations for the festival, which itself lasts the entire month of July.

Catherine lived in Kyoto 20 years and first found out about the festival when she practically ran into one of the gigantic wheels of a float when walking out of her accommodations one day. This led her to start asking questions about the festival, and she found that the locals themselves couldn't exactly explain what it was all about.

So, what is it about? Catherine explains that one role of the festival is to serve as a giant purification ritual and another is to serve as a community bonding event across multiple generations.

What is the status of the festival in the modern context? Some of the major challenges are high real estate prices and urban flight. Promising developments are also emerging such as neighborhoods using the festivals to rebuild their communities and allowing the public to join in.

Amy asks about the social impact of the Gion Festival and its sustainability, to which Catherine discusses some aspects such as the case of the funeboko festival float that looks like a boat, and the plans through high precision digital measurements to recreate and reinstate it. Catherine goes on to talk about why the float is in the shape of a boat and tells a story that involves Empress Jingu.

Catherine says that her bookThe Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries covers the many stories behind the floats that are directly related to Japanese legends and myths, including those from the Kojiki, the Nihongi, and the Tale of the Heike. There are 34 floats that participate in the festival, and the book dedicates a page to each float and the history behind it.

Amy asks Catherine why she brought out the book in two separate versions, print and e-book, and to elaborate on the differences. They talk about the pros and cons of both print and digital books. Catherine hopes that by offering both formats she can provide two very different reader experiences. Amy mentions that Cody Poulton, who reviewed the book on the Books on Asia site, was so intrigued with the idea of two different formats that he bought them both.

Catherine says she was inspired by the book Gateway to Japan, a Kodansha guide written by June Kinoshita and Nicholas Palevsky and wanted to provide engrossing information for the sights. She also realizes that guidebooks are heavy to carry around. So the e-book version has hyperlinks to  other related information on the festival, its components, legends, noh theater, etc..

Amy asks Catherine what it takes to put together a book like this. Catherine said it started with her writing a couple of articles for the Japan Times. One of the articles was about women being able to participate in the musical troupes after an absence of 300 years. This sparks  a discus