Aoi Matsuri Festival

The most famous, popular and important festival in Kyoto, Aoi Matsuri Festival has been held on May 15th for a very long time, hundreds of years.

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However, regrettably, the main feature of the festival, that is, the parade has been canceled this year.

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The “college” in this haiku is thought to be Kyoto University, the poet’s alma mater.

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I remember when I was working part-time at that university, I noticed surprisingly many students from various parts of Japan showed great interests in cultural and historical events of the city, which made me even more proud of my hometown Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.

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The plant, one sort of “mallow” with kind of heart-shaped leaves at the bottom of the photo of the small garden at the back of my house is the important symbol of this festival.

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In the college too/

People talk about/

THE festival these days/

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Translation and calligraphy by Chio