On July 16, 2023, the middle day of the three-day weekend, the eve of the Gion Festival (Sakimatsuri) greeted Yoiyama. With the relaxation of measures against the new coronavirus, the city of Kyoto, where the Yoiyama event was held as usual for the first time in four years, was packed with people and was filled with the heat of the festival. According to the Kyoto Prefectural Police, as of 9:30 p.m., about 340,000 people had turned out, 40,000 more than last year.
As the sun set, the Komagata lanterns attached to the yamahoko floats lit up. The sound of musical accompaniment echoed, and the area around the floats was filled with tourists from Japan and abroad taking pictures and videos. At Mt. Iwato (Shimogyo-ku, Shinmachi-dori Bukkoji-geru), volunteers have been placed for the first time to provide foreign tourists with explanations in English about festivals and the history of the mountain using panels. A 66-year-old man in charge said, "Many foreigners were happy to come."
On Shijo-dori and Karasuma-dori, some sections of which have become pedestrian streets (pedestrian paradise), police officers and security guards continued to urge passers-by to "Don't stop and move forward" in order to prevent traffic accidents. The area between Oike and Nishiki-koji on Karasuma-dori, lined with stalls, and the Shinmachi and Muromachi intersections on Shijo-dori, which leads to narrow roads, were particularly congested.
