Documentation in progress.

The Taimatsu Akashi Festival is a historical Japanese fire festival, rooted in a 400-year-old tradition honoring fallen soldiers. The main attraction is the dramatic sight of approximately 30 massive torches (Ohtaimatsu), some reaching 10 meters tall and 3 tons in weight, being set ablaze on a mountainside as the powerful beat of Taimatsu Taiko drums echoes, creating a breathtaking, fiery spectacle.

The Chichibu Yomatsuri (Night Festival) is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage event featuring six immense, decorative parade floats. Its main attraction is the dramatic two-hour ascent of these floats up the steep Dango Hill, which requires collective human power and is synchronized perfectly with a spectacular 2-hour fireworks display.

Kasama Akutai Matsuri is a one-day Shinto event that turns cursing into a holy ritual. To cleanse themselves of a year’s sins and misfortune, spectators loudly shout curses at 13 men dressed as tengu (long-nosed mountain goblins) on a 4-km procession route.

Ashikaga Akutai Matsuri is a Buddhist tradition held every New Year’s Eve. Participants climb a dark mountain path and yell a year’s worth of frustrations by insulting everyone they meet. This way, the tradition says, no bad luck will follow them into the next year.

The Hadaka Matsuri – Okayama Naked Festival (Saidaiji Eyō) is the most famous and intense purification rite held annually on the third Saturday of February at Saidaiji Kannon-in Temple in Okayama. Its main attraction is the midnight scramble where up to 10,000 men, essentially naked and purified only by cold water, fight fiercely for a pair of sacred wooden sticks (shingi).