Gion Matsuri, one of the three major festivals in Kyoto, is held in July. The "children" who will ride on the naginoko floats that lead the procession of floats in the pre-festival procession and the "kamuro" who will assist them were announced today, June 6 (Thu.).
This year's child will be Masaki Nishikawa (age 11), a 6th grader at Rakuo Elementary School in Kyoto City, and the bald head will be Kadokazu Ogawa (age 7), a 2nd grader at Suzaku Daichi Elementary School in Kyoto City, and Kazuto Nishibuchi (age 8), a 3rd grader at Rakuo Elementary School in Kyoto City.
Masaki is the eldest son of Masayoshi Nishikawa, owner of Gion Nishikawa, a restaurant in Higashiyama-ku. He expressed his aspirations, saying, "I will do my best as a child of Choto-boko.

A boy of about 8 to 10 years old is chosen as a child, and on the occasion of the festival, he is adopted by Nagatohoko-cho and presented with a betrothal gift on the day of the big festival feast. The two boys selected as baldies also accompany the children in all the events. Of the 34 floats in the Mae and Goto festivals, only the Choto-boko floats have children instead of dolls riding on them, and they play a major role in cutting the sacred rope and announcing the start of the procession.

Masaki likes baseball and history (Tokugawa Ieyasu) and said, "I want to be a baseball player or take over my father's store in the future. Kado and Kazuto like soccer and physical education, respectively, and each said that they would like to become soccer players or take over their father's store in the future, which made the audience a little less tense.

Kyoto's summer tradition finally begins.
Enjoy the Gion Festival by paying attention to the shimenawa cutting of the Yamaboko procession, one of the highlights of the festival.

(TEXT/Moe Sawamura)