At the same day as the Jidai Matsuri, we had another festival at night. It is the Kurama Fire Festival, one of the strangest festivals of Kyoto.
Kurama is a small village located in the northern hills of Kyoto. It was a little inconvenient to go to the town, since there was only one train line which brings us to the place. Thus, the train was really crowded with tourists.
The Kurama Fire Festival is a festival of Yuki Shrine, but it was actually an event held across the whole town. That night, fires were ignited around the town, and the town became mysterious. It is said that this unique tradition was first held in 940, when the villagers held torches to welcome a god into their shrine, in order to appease evil spirits to the north of the ancient capital.
At 6 o’clock, fires in front of the houses were ignited, and groups of men started to raise torches and parade the streets yelling.
The size of the torches are almost same as a length of a man, and the weight of the biggest torch is over eighty kilograms. The parading men were yelling “Sairei, sairyo,” meaning “have a good festival.”
This festival was held until late at night, and parade finally ended at Yuki Shrine, where a Shinto ceremony was held at the end of the festival.
urara in kyoto 