At around 11:30 a.m. on July 18, 2025, on the street at Shinmachi Higashi-iru, Sanjo-dori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City, a part of the Takayama mountain, which is to participate in the Gion Festival's after-festival, broke and tilted significantly during work on the mountain. According to the Kyoto Prefectural Police Chugyo Station, no one was injured.
The broken part was the base of a wooden pole called shinmatsu. Shinmatsu is a wooden pole made of a pine tree and a cypress log that is used to support the pine tree, and is erected so that it penetrates the mountain. Its total length is about 18 meters. The work of inserting it into the center of a fallen tower and pulling it upright with a rope is called shinmatsu-tate.
According to the Takayama Preservation Society, work was temporarily halted because the base of the log broke. The shinmatsu was pulled up by a crane, and about 1.5 meters, including the broken part, were cut off, and work on the shinmatsu-tate resumed at around 3:00 p.m. With instructions of "Slowly, slowly" ringing out, they pulled the rope carefully and finished the work. The floats will parade in the Atomatsuri procession on July 24th, with a lower appearance than last year.
