Kurama no hi matsuri (くらまのひまつり), otherwise known as the ‘Fire Festival‘, is an annual matsuri held on august 22nd in the small village of Kurama, north of Kyoto. Often overlooked by tourists, this is one of Kyoto’s most popular festivals.
Kurama is a small village north of Kyoto-shi, snuggled in the mountains. Usually quiet, it hosts the ‘hi matsuri’ every year and can usually see up to 10,000 people down one, long main road!
As the name suggests, this festival is full of fire! Large torches are lit outside each house regardless of weather and paraded up to the Yuki-jinja shrine. Fireworks go off, more torches are lit, masks and hot food are sold, and more things are set ablaze. The whole village is pretty much one long stretch of road, with a path leading up to Kurama’s largest Shinto shrine. And must I say, the place gets packed!
The main attraction are the lighting and carrying of the taimatsu (松明), the woven torches made of pine. Some of them are about 12-14ft in length and require half a dozen men to lift and carry them. These flambeau are carried around by men in traditional matsuri dress. It was pretty cold when I went and I can imagine its even colder in October if you wear this <--------
Obviously they don't leave much to the imagination ^_^’. Well, they’re more clothed than sumo I suppose! [I've mosaic'd everyone's faces out of these pictures because I haven't got permission to display them here, and I'm about 4 years to late to go and ask them.]
Well, at least there’s a lot of fire to keep them warm! I wouldn’t like to be the chief of the Fire Department over there, especially with most of the houses being mostly wooden. It’d be the Fire of London all over again.
As I said before, this festival is packed. And no more-so a time than during the train journey up to Kurama. The Eizan Dentetsu line is usually very quiet, with Kurama being a small village and all. However, come the 22nd, the trains are packed to their fullest and sent on their merry way. Sardines doesn’t even begin to cut it. But soon the place is brimming with life and this one street village becomes the host of some great festivities.
Fires are lit around the village simultaneously at 6pm, which are then used to light the torches. Children parade up towards the shrine with smaller torches, and then the men carry the larger torches. The festival is to symbolise the relocation of the Yuki shrine from the Imperial Palace to Kurama. As with most matsuri, portable shrines are carried alongside the torches. Everywhere you go, there is fire, and a lot of chanting “Saireya, Sairyo”!
At the mouth of the path to the shrine are your normal matsuri wares; masks, hot food, drink, souvenirs. There are also some large statues standing guard. These are carvings like you see to the right, most of them were like No(h) masks, bright red with long noses. If anything, these menacing statues are a sight to behold at around 10ft tall and just add to the atmosphere!
The festival ends shortly after midnight once the portable shines have been carried to their destination. Be sure if you are in Kyoto around October to try and attend this festival. A bit cold, but well worth it, even if it’s just for the fantastic atmosphere!
Directions to this festival (from www.jnto.go.jp):
Yuki-jinja Shrine can be reached on foot from Kurama Station.
Kurama Station is about 30 minutes from Demachi-Yanagi Station on the Eizan Dentetsu Kurama Line.
Demachi-Yanagi Station is about 15 minutes from JR Kyoto Station.
[All photographs taken by David Smith]
Dave Smith is an illustrator with great interest in Japan and Japanese culture. Find out more about Dave at
Ahh the memories! Including getting elbowed in the face by that Japanese woman…
Btw, the front page of Ramen Blues doesn’t seem to be working properly. It doesn’t show your posts.
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Yeah, I was sorting the featured post out, its fixed now though. Expect the blog to go through a few more teething problems in the future. Damn PHP!
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