On January 7, the “Oniyo Fire Festival” took place in front of Tamateregu Shrine in Daizenji, Kurume city. The Oniyo Fire Festival is said to be one of Japan’s Tree Major Fire Festivals.
This annual event is a so-called “tsuina”, which is a ceremony to drive away evil spirits and demons. This ceremony always takes place on January 7 and is said to been practiced about 1,600 years at this shrine.
Before the actual event men who are only wearing loincloth will carry smaller torches around the shrine to pray for the grace of the gods.
Around 9 pm they will light up 6 huge torches (approximately one meter in diameter and 13 meters and length) and move the burning torches around the shrine afterwards. The torches are so big, that they will burn for hours. People also believe that the ash falling from the torches will bless them and bring them good luck. Besides people can also watch a small performance about the expulsion of the demons.
You can easily reach the site by Nishitetsu Super Express train from Tenjin. The station to get off is “Daizenji”. You just have to look out to catch the last train back!
http://www.japanese-school-asahi.com/
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.