Kurama no Hi Matsuri (Kurama Fire Festival)

Kyoto is a city in Japan that is renowned for its rich cultural and historical heritage. One of the popular ways of exploring the culture of Kyoto is visiting the city during the major festivals, all of which represent its traditional values and customs. One of the major festivals of Kyoto is the Kurama no Hi-Matsuri (Kurama Fire Festival). The Kurama festival is often considered to be one of the three most eccentric festivals of Kyoto, the other two being Yasurai Matsuri and Ushi Matsuri.

Kurama no Hi-Matsuri (Kurama Fire Festival) is celebrated on the 22nd day of the month of October and the venue of the festival is the Yuki-jinja Shrine. On the day of the festival at 6 pm, watch fires known as “kagaribi” are set alight in front of the houses of the city. All the denizens of Kyoto hold “taimatsu” or pine torches of a variety of shape and size and, for the rest of the night, they parade through the avenues of the city. This particular ritual announces the arrival of Kurama no Hi-Matsuri in Kyoto.

The highlights of the Kurama Fire Festival are the watch fires, all of which are three meters tall, and the pine torches that embellish the city creating an out of the world aura. The procession of the festival is headed by children who carry small pine torches and they are followed by adults carrying torches weighing more than 80 kg. During the Kurama no Hi-Matsuri Festival, people visit the gateway of Kurama-dera Temple at 8 p.m. and worship at the Yuki Shrine. The festival climaxes with the parading of two “mikoshi” or portable shrines, which are placed on the shoulders of young people. All the customs and rituals of the festival are generally over by midnight.

The Kurama Fire Festival is a hot favorite with the tourists and Kyoto receives an influx of visitors from all over Japan and foreign territories. Since, during this time, all the trains, buses and other modes of transportation in Kyoto are crowded, it is advisable for the tourists to reach the city as early as possible and then leave before the festivities are over.

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