Controversy rages at Kyoto’s famous Gion Festival over expensive spectator seats; The shrine’s head priest says the festival is ‘ritual’ and not ‘show’

KYOTO – A dispute over the sale of “premium seats” for Kyoto’s famed Gion Festival has led the chief priest of the shrine that organizes the festival to consider resigning from his seat on the Kyoto board of directors City Tourism Association. learned.

Akiyoshi Nomura, the 65-year-old high priest of Yasaka Shrine in the Higashiyama Ward, has declared his intention to resign in protest over the association’s offering of expensive tickets to a prime viewing spot to watch the procession of extravagant statues from the Gion Festival to behold. floats, called “Yamahoko-Junko.”

The premium seating was introduced by the association last year and includes alcoholic drinks and portions of shaved ice. According to the shrine, Nomura said the procession “is a Shinto ritual, and not a show to be watched while drinking alcoholic beverages.”

On Tuesday, the association began selling tickets for 60 premium seats for the July 17 procession, priced at ¥150,000 and ¥200,000.

According to the shrine, Nomura began considering the issue as a problem last year, when ¥400,000 seats were introduced, aimed at deep-pocketed tourists from abroad, although the price was reduced after a review this summer.

“We need to confirm his true motives,” said an association member. “There is still room to reconsider the content of the service.”