Embers spark into the night like thousands of fireflies. The aroma of burning pine wafts through the cold air as men clad in not much more than a rope around their loins and shoulder pads carry 80-kilogram burning taimatsu pine wood torches through the streets. Even children are out waving their torches near equal their own height.
It’s the evening of Oct. 22 in the mountain village of Kurama, just north of Kyoto, and the fire carriers and onlookers alike are chanting: “Saireya, sairyō!” — both a boast of the quality of the Kurama Fire Festival and an invitation for the kami (gods) to come and join.
The ancient capital of Kyoto and its surroundings have no shortage of matsuri (festivals), but unlike the formalized Gion and stately Jidai festivals in the city proper, the Kurama Fire Festival retains a spirit of wild Shintoism. The former are worth seeing, but despite the 10,000-strong crowd that descends on Kurama for this festival, it retains a small-town festiveness and passion I just don’t feel in the others.
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