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 because the Nachi Fan Festival, the occasion is a ritual during which the enshrined deities of the World Heritage-listed Kumano Nachi Taisha are stated to return to their authentic dwelling at Nachi Falls, driving on twelve moveable shrines adorned with followers. The pageant can also be known as a hearth pageant as a result of the usage of large torches.
Dressed in conventional white clothes, native parishioners hoisted torches weighing over 50 kilograms and marched alongside the shrine path, purifying the route with flames because the mikoshi carrying the gods handed by means of.
As the torchbearers superior up the stone staircase, cheers erupted from the gang of onlookers. When the mikoshi lastly reached Nachi Falls, the realm was enveloped in an environment of mystical reverence.