Floats weighing several tonnes, lashed with rope and not a single nail

The large hoko stand over twenty metres tall including the mast, hung with layers of textiles, some of them tapestries and embroidery imported from the Middle East, Europe and China centuries ago. During Yoiyama, some old townhouses in the float neighbourhoods open their tatami rooms to show folding screens and heirlooms, a custom called byobu-kazari.

The three evenings before each procession are Yoiyama. After dark the floats are lit and musicians on board play the gongs, flutes and drums of gion-bayashi. The Saki Yoiyama has street stalls; the Ato Yoiyama has far fewer. When the area around Shijo-Karasuma gets packed, police and security staff control which way people walk.

During Yoiyama, each float's neighbourhood office sells chimaki: charms of bound bamboo leaves, not food, hung by the front door for a year's protection. The design and the blessing differ from float to float, and they are sold until they run out.

On procession day the Saki floats leave Shijo-Karasuma and follow Shijo-dori, Kawaramachi-dori and Oike-dori in that order; the Ato floats leave Karasuma-Oike and run the route in reverse. The floats have no steering, so at each corner they stop for tsuji-mawashi: wet bamboo strips go under the wheels, and the crew hauls on ropes to swing a float weighing several tonnes through ninety degrees.