Oto Matsuri is a Japanese fire festival in Shingu, Wakayama where a horde of white-clad torch-bearing men rush down a mountain like a river of flame for the sake of good harvests.
In 2015, I took part in the festival along over 1000 other men of all ages. Only men are allowed in participate in this 1400 year old festival that is held on February 6th. In the evening, clad in our traditional white clothes, we participants called noboriko climbed the steep 538 stone steps to Kamikura Shrine. We waited in the cold darkness until a sacred fire was made at the shrine then spread to all the torches turning the mountain side into a wall of flame and smoke. On the torches noboriko write their wishes in the hopes they will come true.
The serious noboriko prepares in advance by only eating white food and performing a cold water purification ritual known as misogi. These noboriko will jostle to be in the front when the gates are opened then rush down to be first to the bottom. The rest of us go down slowly due to the mass of men trying to scramble down the treacherously steep dark steps blinded by flame and smoke.
All in all a great festival to be a part of!
AloJapan.com