Fire Festival (Dosojin)

The Fire Festival in Nozawa Onsen is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen.

It involves the 21(?) year old men and 42 year old men from the village, as these are supposed to be unlucky years.

A few days before the festival, the 21 year olds bring down trees from the mountain and built a big temple looking thing.  On the night of January 15, all the 42 year old men sat on top, while the younger men had to defend it from the rest of the villagers.

The tricky part lies in the fact that the young men are defending their temple with branch-like things, while the rest of the villagers are attacking with similar branches, but which have been set on fire.

So yes.  Going to watch the fire festival pretty much involves watching a bunch of guys getting the absolute bajeezus beaten out of them by the rest of the town.  With firey torches, no less.  And everyone is hugely drunk on sake, just to make it an extra challenge.

After a certain amount of time, one of the older men – presumably with some sort of authority – call it off.  At this point, the young men are untied from the temple, the older men climb down from the top and then the entire thing is burned down.

It is without a doubt the most insane thing I’ve ever seen.  Very dangerous – there were sirens going all night – and really just mental.

But mindblowingly amazing at the same time.

Click here for an awesome video.