KYOTO—A graduate student at the Tokyo University of the Arts has been selected to play the heroine of this year’s Aoi Festival, one of the three major festivals of Kyoto, held on May 15 annually.
The festival procession preservation committee announced on April 14 that Aya Yamauchi, 25, from Kyoto, will serve as the 67th “Saio-dai,” the heroine of the festival.
Yamauchi’s father, Shoichiro Yamauchi, 72, is president of Kinsyo Holdings Inc., which engages in real estate rental and other businesses, based in Kyoto’s Nakagyo Ward.
She started practicing traditional Japanese dance of the Inoue school when she was 6.
After graduating from Notre Dame Jogakuin High School, Yamauchi entered the Faculty of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts. She went on to graduate school to study Japanese music, and also performs “jiuta sokyoku,” a traditional style of music that originated in Kyoto, on the koto.
Yamauchi has performed in the Aoi Festival previously, first as a “warawame” (little girl) when she was 8, and as an “uneme” (court official) when she was 15.
“I will play the princess of Kyoto at the festival. I hope to be a Saio-dai that visitors will remember. I will take the role seriously but will perform with a smile,” she told reporters at a news conference on April 14.
The Aoi Festival is organized by Kamigamojinja shrine and Shimogamojinja shrine, which are both World Cultural Heritage sites.
The official name of the Aoi Festival is Kamo Festival.
The festival is depicted in classic Japanese literature such as “The Tale of Genji,” written by Murasaki Shikibu in the Heian Period (794-1185), and “The Pillow Book,” written by Sei Shonagon (circa 966-1025).
The procession will depart from the Kyoto Imperial Palace and head toward the Shimogamojinja and Kamigamojinja shrines on May 15.
AloJapan.com