Hometown Stories

tv show

poster for Hometown Stories

275 total episodes

-

14 seasons

First Aired February 06, 2011

Overview

Stories about people, stories about life. Intimate portraits of people from around Japan, each leading diverse lives while enriching lives of others.

The Deities of Gion poster unavailable

The Deities of Gion

Season 10 - Episode 13 - 0h 0m

Air Date

June 20, 2021

Overview

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in summer 2020, Kyoto Prefecture's 1,000-year-old Gion Festival, held annually around Yasaka Shrine, was facing cancellation. But Kitamura Norio, a devoted parishioner who runs a nearby sushi restaurant, called for part of the festival to go ahead somehow, saying at times like these, people need their deities. Amid the self-isolation caused by COVID, the shrine and the local parishioner group decided to revive a contingency plan for the festival originally conceived after a civil war ended in the 15th century. This program is a record of people behind the 2020 Gion Festival and their efforts to maintain their tradition.