Fire Festivals & Light-Ups in Nara

Fire Festivals & Light-Ups in Nara

To light up doesn't mean to have a cigarette in Japan. In fact, most light-ups are at temples and shrines where, atypically, smoking is banned. Below are the more dramatic illuminations on the Nara festival calendar.

January

Wakakusa-yama Yaki (Grass Burning Festival). On the night before the second Monday in January, 15 priests set Wakakusa-yama's dry grass afire while fireworks illuminate Kofuku-ji's Five-Story Pagoda in one of Japan's most photographed rituals. This rite is believed to commemorate the resolution of a boundary dispute between the monks and priests of Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji. The fireworks start at 5:50 and the grass fire is lit at 6.

February

Mantoro (Lantern Festival). On February 3 the 2,000 stone and 1,000 bronze lanterns at Kasuga Taisha are lighted to mark the traditional end of winter called setsubun. Between 5 and 9.

March

Shunie-Omizutori (Water Drawing Festival). From March 1 to 14 priests circle the upper gallery of the Ni-gatsu-do (Second Month Hall) wielding 21-foot-long taimatsu (bamboo torches) weighing more than 80 kg, while sparks fall on those below. Catching the embers burns out sins and wards off evil. This festival is more than 1,200 years old, a rite of repentance to the Eleven-Headed Kannon, an incarnation of the Goddess of Mercy. March 1-12, 7:30-8; 13, 7-7:30; 14, for 10 minutes from 6:30.

July-October

Light-up Promenade. Sights including Yakushi-ji, Kofuku-ji, and Todai-ji are illuminated at night. July, August, and September 7-10, October 6-10.

August

Toka-e. From August 1 to 15 Nara Koen is aglow with more than 7,000 candles. From 7 to 9:45.

Chugen Mantoro (Mid-year Lantern Festival). For more than 800 years the thousands of lanterns at Kasuga Taisha have been lit to guide ancestors back to earth on their annual pilgrimage, Obon. August 14-15 from 7 to 10.