Festivals in Kyoto: Kyoto´s Student Festival (京都学生祭典)

On Sunday it was time for Kyoto´s Student Festival (京都学生祭典) taking place at the Heian Jingu shrine (平安神宮) in the eastern part of Kyoto.

Me and Silke went a bit earlier than the others, and did some sightseeing in the area where the Heian-jinja was located. We found some really nice streets there, which kinda seemed like typical tourist spots though.

Anyway, after our little sightseeing trip we went to the shrine and it was time for my first big japanese festival! We got to see a lot of cool dancing

(actually a competition between different dancing groups), some who played on japanese Taiko-drums, a bit of rock music and not at least the carrying of a japanese Mikoshi (神輿 -> see the picture under).

Some of the other exchange students were actually participating as well, which made it extra cool to come and watch. For those who likes festivals I guess Kyoto is the place to go, in general there are a lot of festivals here.

Friends from SKP!

At the end of the festival they announced the winner of the dance contest too, and it seems the whole thing were going to be broadcasted on TV.

We had to actually join in on a crowd dance as well, though that was easier said than done with all the people around us.

After the festival it was time for dinner, and we found a restaurant which was called VeryBerry. Just the name tells me we should have chosen somewhere else to eat. Oh well.. We got placed on the second floor where there basically no-one else but us five, and the waitress turned on a cd with american children´s songs.. It was.. Bad.. The food was bad too, it reminded me about McDonalds but it was probably thrice the price. Haha..

After the disappointing dinner me and Silke went back by bike and the other three by taxi. We catched up with them at the train station close to our dorm though, even though it took us around 40 minutes to go there.. I must say I really love my bike, haha..

Some of the dance show

..And some drummers

Students carrying a Mikoshi