The little boy in the stark white robes and black hat of a Shinto priest raised
the short wakizashi sword above his head and brought it down as hard as he
could.
In a single stroke, he cut the rope and the Gion Matsuri festival began.
'This is amazing! I've never seen anything like it,' enthused Jack.
Immense wooden floats, adorned with tapestries and columns of bulbous
white lanterns that looked like sails soaring into the sky, passed by in a
never-ending procession. Some of the floats were carried upon people's
shoulders, while the largest ones, as big as riverboats and bearing finely
dressed, white-faced geisha, were set upon wooden wheels and pulled
through the streets.
As the first of these floats approached a street corner, all the men pulling
began to chant loudly, 'Yoi! Yoi! Yoi to sei!', their rhythm pounded out on
large taiko drums on the float's upper floor. The whole structure began to
turn and gradually disappeared round the corner like some huge bejewelled
dragon.
'What's this festival for?' shouted Jack over the noise of the celebrations.
'It's a purification ritual,' replied Akiko, who stood close by in a seagreen kimono decorated with brightly coloured chrysanthemums. 'A plague
swept through Kyoto seven hundred years ago and the Matsuri prevents its
return.'
'We had a plague in England too,' said Jack. 'They called it the Black
Death.'
The crowd around them surged forward as people jostled for the best
position to see all the different passing floats. Emi with two of her friends
joined Jack, Akiko and Yamato in the throng.
'How is our victorious samurai today?' greeted Emi, fluttering a red
paper fan against the heat while manoeuvring herself between Jack and
Akiko. Akiko frowned at Emi's unexpected intrusion.
'Great, thanks!' said Jack. 'This is a wonderful festival –'
'Come on!' urged Yamato, seeing Akiko's prickly reaction. He grabbed
Jack's arm. 'I know a better place to stand.'
'Sorry, I have to go. Perhaps see you later?' said Jack, waving at the
disappointed Emi as he was dragged by Yamato and Akiko to the back of
the crowd, where they found Saburo, Yori and Kiku waiting for them.
'Here, try this!' greeted Saburo, and shoved a small fish-shaped cake in
his hand.
'What is it?' asked Jack, eyeing the pastry suspiciously.
'It's taiyaki…' replied Saburo through a mouthful of the cake.
'Later. We've got all afternoon to eat,' interrupted Yamato. 'We need to
get ahead of the procession to see it all. Follow me!'
Yamato led them off down a back street and they wound their way
through a maze of narrow deserted alleyways before coming out on to the
main thoroughfare in front of the Imperial Palace.
Hundreds of people were already gathered and the street was lined with
stalls selling strange sweets, skewers of barbequed chicken, sencha and a
vast array of festival delights, from brightly coloured paper fans to
gruesome papier-mâché masks, all in readiness for the evening celebrations.
'There! What did I tell you, Jack? We can see the whole procession from
here,' said Yamato eagerly, making his way to the front.
From the moment of their Taryu-Jiai victory the previous day and his
reconciliation with his father, Yamato had been a changed person. No
longer was he so serious, or so cold towards Jack. In fact, he took his
newfound friendship with Jack so far that Yamato was almost a bodyguard,
challenging anyone who referred to Jack as the gaijin.
Not that many people did. Along with Akiko and Saburo, Jack and
Yamato were the heroes of the school. Only Kazuki and his friends
remained hostile towards Jack, but they were keeping a low profile while
everyone was celebrating the school's victory over the Yagyu Ryū.
'Look!' said Kiku. 'There's Masamoto!'
'Where's he going?' asked Jack.
'To meet the Emperor, of course!' said Kiku in reverential awe. 'Our
Living God.'
'You may have won the Taryu-Jiai,' explained Akiko, 'but as the founder
of the Niten Ichi Ryū, Masamoto gets the honour of meeting the Emperor
himself.'
Masamoto, bearing the Jade Green sword and flanked by Sensei Yamada,
Sensei Kyuzo, Sensei Hosokawa and Sensei Yosa, all in full ceremonial
regalia, entered through the immense gateway of the Imperial Palace and
disappeared behind the tall earthen walls.
Jack wondered what it would be like to meet a 'Living God'.
The rest of that afternoon was spent watching the passing parade of floats,
geisha and musicians, while Jack was introduced to a bizarre variety of
Japanese foods. Saburo appeared to greatly enjoy experimenting with Jack's
taste buds, force-feeding him with varying levels of success. Jack enjoyed
the takoyaki, a dumpling made of batter, ginger and fried octopus, but he
found the obanyaki, a thick round pastry filled with custard, sickly sweet.
As they wandered the streets, Saburo kept giving Jack various fried
pancakes.
'They're called okonomiyaki. It means "cook what you like, when you
like",' explained Akiko, a disgusted look on her face as Jack tucked into his
fourth one, 'but I wouldn't trust it. You never know what they might have
put in it!'
'Quick, over here,' shouted Yamato, waving them to a stand on the
corner of a side street. 'This stall's selling some of the best masks I've seen
yet!'
'Here, Jack, this one will suit you,' said Saburo, handing him an ugly red
demon mask with four eyes and metallic gold teeth. 'It should improve the
way you look!'
'Well, you had better have this one, considering you fight like one!'
retorted Jack, passing him the wrinkled, half-sunken face of an old woman.
'Ha, ha!' replied Saburo humourlessly, but took it anyway. 'What about
this one for you, Yamato?'
'Yes, why not? It's got spirit,' said Yamato, examining the gold mask of a
madman with spikes of black hair.
'Which one are you going to get, Akiko?' asked Jack.
'I was thinking of that one,' she said, pointing to a red and gold butterfly
mask.
'Yes, you would look quite lovely in that…' began Jack, but he stopped
when he saw the surprise on Saburo and Kiku's faces at his unexpectedly
affectionate compliment.
'Well… it would be better than that… lion-dog mask over there,' he
finished awkwardly and gave a dismissive wave of the hand.
'Thank you, Jack,' she said, smiling graciously, and turned to the
merchant.
Jack was relieved Akiko had her back to him, for she missed seeing him
blush. But Yamato saw it and meaningfully raised his eyebrows at him.
Not long after sunset, all the lanterns on the procession floats were lit,
transforming Kyoto into a magical nighttime paradise. The lanterns floated
through the streets like vast cloud formations lit from within by tiny suns.
Everyone donned their masks and the streets came alive with music and
merriment.
Many of the floats ground to a halt as the men began to drink from large
bottles of saké, and it was not long before the sounds of revelry could be
heard coming from every street corner.
As Jack, Akiko, Yamato and the others made their way back to the main
thoroughfare for the evening fireworks, a group of drunken samurai
staggered past, forcing Jack to jump out of their way.
He collided with a man in black who was wearing an ebony devil mask
with two sharp red horns and a small white skull carved in the centre of its
forehead.
'Out of my way!' hissed the black devil.
Jack stared through his own demon mask at the man and froze.
The man irritably shoved Jack out of his way and hurried down the street
before disappearing into a narrow side alley.
'Are you all right?' asked Akiko, rushing over to Jack.
'I think… I just saw Dragon Eye!'