The "Osen-do Ceremony" in which the young boys of the Gion Festival's Nagatoboku (Shijo-dori Karasuma Higashi-iru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City) pray for the safety of the festival was held at Yasaka Shrine in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City on July 1, 2025, kicking off the month-long Gion Festival.
Around 10 a.m. on that day, the young boy Kento Kubo (8 years old), wearing face powder and vermilion hakama, appeared at the Minami-romon Gate with about 20 officials of the Nagatoboku Preservation Society. He visited the main hall with his twin brothers Togo and Haruta Okayama (both 10 years old), who serve as assistant kamuro, and reported to the altar that he would be serving as a young boy.
After that, led by his father and grandfather, he circled the main hall three times with the officials, putting his hands together and praying for the safety of the festival. It is said that if a large group of people circle the hall, it is considered that they have visited the hall a thousand times. The temperature in Kyoto City rose to 33.5 degrees at 11 a.m., and people walked around fanning themselves with large fans.
