Kurama Fire Festival

The Kurama Fire Festival is a traditional festival which recreates the scene when Yuki Daimyojin was transferred to Kurama, located north of the capital, and is counted as one of the three major fire festivals in Japan. The festival starts at 9:00 a.m. with the regular ceremony at the main shrine, and at 6:00 p.m., the bonfires (eji) stacked in each house are lit all at once. Young boys carry small torches and march around, and young men carry large torches that gradually burn brighter, chanting "Sairei, Sairyo"¹. After that, a series of rituals are performed until the mikoshi (portable shrine) descends the approach to the shrine and returns to the shrine. The scale of the festival is very large, and the sight of the bonfires and large torches lighting up the night sky is overwhelming. Source of information and images: Official event website (please see the information section at the bottom of the page for the website URL)