Travel

Flaming Torches Mark Summer Festival in Wakayama

Wakayama, Jul 16 (News On Japan) - The annual Nachi Fire Festival lit up the stone steps of Kumano Nachi Taisha on Monday in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, with a dramatic procession of blazing torches and sacred mikoshi shrines.

Known formally as the Nachi Fan Festival, the event is a ritual in which the enshrined deities of the World Heritage-listed Kumano Nachi Taisha are said to return to their original home at Nachi Falls, riding on twelve portable shrines adorned with fans. The festival is also referred to as a fire festival due to the use of massive torches.

Dressed in traditional white garments, local parishioners hoisted torches weighing over 50 kilograms and marched along the shrine path, purifying the route with flames as the mikoshi carrying the gods passed through.

As the torchbearers advanced up the stone staircase, cheers erupted from the crowd of onlookers. When the mikoshi finally reached Nachi Falls, the area was enveloped in an atmosphere of mystical reverence.

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