Full details of this and more Japanese festivals in my photo blog: discoverJapan.info
Tejikara Fire Festival, the annual festival of Tejikara shrine, is held on the second Saturday of April every year. This traditional festival with a history of 300 years is designated as an Important Intangible Fork Cultural Property by Gifu Prefecture.
On the festival night, a firework cascade and torches suspended 20 meters above the shrine precinct are set off. Then the nine portable shrines carried by men wearing only loincloths enter the precinct with the sound of firecrackers echoing all around. The fire sparks from the firework cascade pour onto the men naked to the waist as well as onto the portable shrines, which also shoot streams of fire high into the air. The highlight is the mad dance of fire created by the wild movements of the men carrying the portable shrines amidst a shower of falling sparks. It is said that the men who received the fire sparks can stay in sound health for one year after the festival.
13 апр 2015
