Kurama Fire Festival [Yuki Shrine]

About this event

One of Kyoto's Three Major Eccentric Festivals, held every year on October 22. Its origin is said to date back to the 3rd year of Tengyo (940), when Yuki Daimyojin, which had previously been enshrined in the Imperial Palace, was transferred to Kurama, and villagers welcomed the deity carrying countless torches while placing the local guardian deity Hassho Myojin on a portable shrine. The festival takes place throughout the village, centering on Yuki Shrine and the Kurama Kaido road leading to the shrine, and Kurama village is filled with the blazing flames of torches accompanied by the spirited shouts of "Saireya, sairyo". As evening falls, the entire village begins to flicker with torchlight, and the festival quietly opens with children descending the stone steps holding small torches. Soon the torches gradually become larger, and by the time young men parade along the steep approach while carrying giant torches reaching several meters in height, the entire Mount Kurama is engulfed in smoke, flames, and chanting. The climax arrives near midnight, and the moment the Go-Horen (sacred palanquin) of Yuki Shrine proceeds through the corridor of fire is breathtakingly powerful. Kurama is also known as a place associated with the legend of Kurama Tengu and Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and the scene of autumn foliage overlapping with torch flames creates a magical atmosphere that cannot be found at any other festival. Because the entire settlement serves as the festival stage, the distance between spectators and local people is close, allowing you to experience an intimacy and tension unlike Kyoto's large-scale festivals.

Venue

Yuki Shrine

1073 Kuramahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto 601-1111