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Gozan Okuribi 五山送り火

Bonfires on mountains around Kyōto (16 Aug)

Daimonji

The characters 五山送り火 mean “sending off fires on 5 mountains” and Gozan Okuribi sees huge bonfires lit on five mountainsides around Kyōto.

It is believed that on 16 August, the dead who have come back to visit their living relatives for the Obon period will depart once again for the spiritual world. The ritual bonfires are lit to give them a good send off.

The bonfires are enormous, with the most well-known being a 大 on Daimonji-yama - meaning “big” - made up of three strokes of bonfire 160, 120, and 80 meters long.

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Gozan Okuribi

Summer: June, July & Aug 夏

Kyōto 京都

Text © Craig McLachlan

Image by Takeshi Kuboki