The Atomatsuri of the Gion Matsuri celebrated Yoiyoiyama on July 22, 2023. In the quiet atmosphere of central Kyoto, where Yamahokocho is located, children's songs recommending the gifting of chimaki and lucky charms and the lighting of candles echoed.
At Koiyama (Rokkakugaru, Muromachi-dori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto), this year, after four years, the sale of candles by local children and grandchildren of residents in the town, which had been canceled due to the spread of the new coronavirus, has resumed. For two hours from 6:00 p.m., preschoolers and elementary school boys and girls took turns singing, "Let's give him a candle. How about a candle?"
The visitors squinted their eyes at the cute figure and offered lanterns to the deity one after another. Sho Tarui (7 years old, Aichi Prefecture), a second-year elementary school student who performed the song, said, "I was happy that so many people came."
At the Atomatsuri, pedestrian streets (pedestrian paradise) on Shijo-dori and Karasuma-dori are not implemented. The crowd started to increase little by little as it got darker.
