This letter is mounted with an ichimonji (the fabric strip directly above the mounted work) with the mitsudomoe (three comma-shaped figures in a circle) and mokko (rhombic gourd flower) crests of Yasaka-jinja Shrine, or Gion-sha as it is often called. Its mounting brings a sense of coolness in mid-summer. This is a letter addressed to the executor of Gion-sha from Ino Kiyofusa, the magistrate of the Muromachi shogunate. The letter reads: “On the pageant of yamaboko (float). Although unfortunately there are different ideas among the palanquin bearers, the pageant and the sacred ritual should be carried out. Judgement on them [the palanquin bearers] should be made after the ritual as the shogun instructed.”

The Gion Festival was interrupted for decades in the aftermath of the Onin War, and was not revived until 1500. This letter is dated 1504, the year of quarrels among sectors within the executing body of the festival according to the Gion-sha-ki, record of Gion-sha. The “palanquin bearers” mentioned in this letter, for example, would not follow the official instruction in those years. Thanks to the shogunate government’s command of the priority of performing ritual, the Gion Festival of the year went smoothly. The letter is, therefore, an important historical material of the after-effects of the Onin War on the Gion Festival.

Ino Kiyofusa (samurai; fl. 1463–1508)
Also known as Munekiyo; Magoshiro; Saemonnojo; kaga-no-kami
Mid-Muromachi period magistrate of the shogunate. Served from 1463 to 1508.