鞍馬の火祭

So back to my travels. Last week I went to the Kurama Fire Festival 鞍馬の火祭 this is a festival that dates back about a thousand years. The festival is to remember the enshriment of the protector diety of the local Kurama Temple 鞍馬寺. The festival includes children carrying small torches up to men charrying large 10 meter torches.


This is an example of the Large Torches



I went with my friend Tatsuya 達也 first on a jam packed train and arrived about 6:30 to Kurama. There were so many local Kansai people 関西人 and tons of foreigners 外人. Later on the rest of the group arrived as the festival went underway. The festival included an amazing feet where they lifted these large torches into 2 lines and then took them back down and continured up to the temple. The police said this part of the festival was for locals only, but I think that it was to get the foreigners to leave.



We get on the Jam packed train and head back to Hirakata, me and Tatsuya arrived to my apartment at midnight, since he lives too far away I let him sleep there, which he was happy that he didn't have to wake up at 6am to goto campus. It was a great festival and I am glad I was able to attend!

Click here for more Kurama Photos 鞍馬の火祭写真