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The same night as the Jidai Matsuri parade in Kyoto is the Kurama Fire Festival. Held in a small suburb north of the city, it is the exact opposite in attitude to the Kyoto parade: while Kyoto's is stately, prim and proper, and boring as hell, this festival is intense, energetic, almost primal in nature.
The night starts with small fires lit periodically along the one street town. In the center of town is the main shrine, where the events of the night will eventually climax. At one point the drumming starts, and torches are brought out from the houses and lit. First the small boys carry the smaller torches from the house, and march them up and down the street while shouting out chants (I can't remember what they were saying). Then it's time for the older males to bring out the monster torches - some about 20 feet long - up to four people carry each torch and march and jump around swinging the large flame back and forth, all the while singing and shouting. The energy in the air is insane, there's smoke and fire everywhere, people are shouting and drumming. In the center near the shrine there are many more spectators with policemen everywhere for safety; you are severely restricted in where you can go (just like with the rest of Japan) and pretty much watch the whole thing from the side of the road. I stayed more on the outskirts and was rewarded with being able to be right in the middle of the street where all the action and torches and fire were inches from my face and I could feel the primal energy to the very depths of my body.
Eventually, all the torches converge in the center of town, and a huge
bonfire is lit. Unfortunately there were too many people and I got
caught on the outside, so I missed the final conflagration. The only
problem with the night is that you'll see just as many, if not more, foreigners
than countrymen here. But it was exciting, wild, and eminently dangerous
- I loved it!
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