OSAKA, Dec 16 (News On Japan) –
The conventional ‘Yassai Hossai’ hearth competition, courting again to prehistoric occasions, reached its zenith on Thursday with a surprising fire-walking ritual, thrilling hordes of onlookers.
The competition, praying for harvest and a bountiful catch, is claimed to originate from a legend the place villagers saved a stranded ‘Ebisu-sama’ sea god and warmed him with hearth.
Among the roaring flames, bare males collect in droves, emitting unusual chants as they run across the Ishizu Ota Shrine in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture.
Held yearly on December 14, ‘Yassai Hossai’ has a protracted historical past. Even the President of the Festival Preservation Society President, Masakazu Sakaguchi, would not know the place the title got here from.
The major attraction is the fire-walking ritual, the place three males, representing this yr’s ‘Ebisu-sama’, sprint over a collapsed Tonto, a construction erected within the shrine precincts at first of the competition to mark its starting.
While the “Yassai Hossai” competition this yr was a triumph, it faces challenges forward.
“Young people are dwindling,” a competition goer lamented, “It’s hard to continue if we just rely on the older generation.”
With depopulation resulting in the decline of assorted native festivals, Yassai Hossai isn’t any exception. To proceed preserving the custom, growing participation is important, and the Preservation Society plans to actively promote the competition on-line, with the president saying, “We aim for even safer and more spectacular celebrations.”