We of course wear many clothes to keep warm and look forward to spring. When a few shirowabisuke camellia bloom in the backyard, we slightly open kumo shoji, a small sliding screen of ranma transom located above the storm door on the verandah, and enjoy playing with Hina dolls in the warmer weeks after the doll festival itself. Around the time of fresh green leaves and the Boy's Festival, the shoji and fusuma are opened to let fresh breezes flow through. As the rainy season sets in, tatami mats get wet. Room doors are closed.
Gloomy days pass.
When flowers fall one after another from the mokkoku, or the evergreen tree Temstroemia japonica, shoji and fusuma are all changed for yoshido reed sliding doors. With ajiro carpets spread on the floor, the rooms are ready for summer. On the first of July,gion bayashi, or the elegant music of the Gion Festival, echoes in the evenivg, setting the atmosphere for Kyoto's gorgeous traditional festival. The festival began as a prayer for protection from epidemics and urban disasters and a wish for continued prosperity, and shop owners enjoy it with customers and passersby as requried. Lattices are removed from the shop windows, and manmaku curtains with the family's crest are hung.