By JIRO OMURA/ Staff Writer
July 10, 2019 at 17:40 JST
KYOTO--Traditional carpentry skills were on display on a street here July 10 as craftsmen began assembling “yamahoko” floats for the spectacular Gion Festival that will be paraded here a week from now.
Craftsmen, called “sakujikata,” were hard at work binding pieces of lumber with tightly coiled rope instead of using nails in a traditional method called “nawa-garami.”
Floats of various sizes were taking shape along Shijo-dori street, and the biggest ones will be as high as 20 meters and weigh more than 10 tons.
Parades will be held July 17 as a highlight of the festival.
It takes about three days to assembly a float, including the roof, wheels and ornaments.
A total of 23 floats will be assembled by July 14.
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Craftsmen assemble a “yamahoko” float in Kyoto’s Shimogyo Ward on July 10. (Yoshiko Sato)
