F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-024

Nachi no Hifuri Shinji (Kumano Nachi Fire Festival)

熊野那智大社 那智の扇祭り（那智の火祭）くまのなちたいしゃ なちのおうぎまつり

On July 14th at Kumano Nachi Taisha — the Kumano shrine whose resident deity is the Nachi Falls itself — twelve fan-shaped portable shrines (Ōgi-mikoshi) representing the twelve months of the year are carried from the main hall down the stone steps toward the base of the falls, each float accompanying a massive pine torch weighing roughly 50 kilograms and standing 6 meters tall. At the stone steps before the falls, the torches are rotated to represent the circular movement of the seasons, their flame and smoke mixing with the waterfall's mist in a combination of elemental forces whose visual intensity is difficult to overstate. This ceremony is the annual reunion of the falls deity with its main shrine — the god returning to its original form — and the torches' fire and rotation express the purification and renewal of divine energy that the reunion accomplishes. The backdrop of the 133-meter Nachi Falls behind the ceremony gives the entire event a scale that few festivals in Japan can approximate.