In the evening was a festival called Karuma no Hi-Matsuri.
It is held in a small town called Karuma, which is about 45 minutes by train from Kyoto.
It is a fire ceremony, in which the villagers carry enormous flaming torches from one end of the village to another for several hours before it culminates in them setting fire to the village in preparation to rebuild it for next years festival.
Or they burn a giant offering that they made and then carry that around the village for a couple of hours until it burns out. One of those two at any rate.
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| Giant torch. It weighs about 80 kg. |
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| The streets are lined with braziers |
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| and police tape... |
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| A bonfire, probably for lighting the giant torches, and burning heretics |
Let me sing you the song of my people.
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| A villager prepares to throw himself to the fire |
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| Where's your god of fire prevention now!?! |
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Paper lanterns were used for lighting on buildings that they
wanted to keep. |
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| Preparing to burn the sacrifice |
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| The sacrifice parade is underway |
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| Get him! |
How is it that I have not been to this place...
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