Chapter 2 part 9

May fifteenth was the day of the Aoi Festival.

The Aoi Festival is formally known as the Kamo Festival, and it’s one of Kyoto’s three major festivals—the other two are the Gion Festival and the Jidai Festival. It is said to be Japan’s oldest festival.

During the Asuka period, there was a time when Japan was devastated by natural disasters. Concerned for his people, Emperor Kinmei consulted with a renowned fortuneteller and was advised to hold a festival in honor of the Kamo deities. That was supposedly how the Kamo Festival began.

After the Heian relocation of the capital, Emperor Saga sent his beloved daughter, Imperial Princess Uchiko, to serve as a shrine maiden at Kamo’s shrine. The ritual became a national festival called the “Aoi Festival,” where an imperial princess was offered as “Saio” to devote herself to serving the gods. She would ride in a palanquin to the shrine building while the people gave her their blessings. In modern times, a young, unmarried Kyoto woman is chosen as a substitute. This “Saio-dai” rides the palanquin and is the star of the festival.

Learning the full history reaffirmed for me that it was an honorable position. And after all that happened, Saori made up her mind to be this year’s star. When the palanquin emerged from the Imperial Palace, everyone sighed in awe at the beautiful Saio-dai dressed in the traditional twelve-layered kimono. She looked divine. I sensed strength from her expression, as though she’d broken free from the past.

The Aoi Festival is usually only covered by Kansai media outlets, but Saori was so stunning that she made national news. It wasn’t long before she was even requested to make an appearance on TV, but that’s a story for another time.

As Holmes and I watched her from the spectator area, I felt glad from the bottom of my heart that the suspicious mail incident had been resolved cleanly, without any strange complications. The fresh, early summer breeze felt soothing in this time of Aoi.

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