Daimonji-Okuribi (a.k.a Daimonji-yaki)

Daimonji-okuribi is a fascinating ritual which acts as the culmination of Japan's O-Bon, which is a time spent every year paying respects to one's ancestors.

During O-Bon, it is customary to light a candle or lantern in your window, or by your door in order to guide the spirits of your ancestors safely home.

During this time, a great number of Japanese travel to their hometowns to visit their ancestral homes to honour the deceased.

At the end of the O-Bon period it is important that the spirits of the ancestors are guided safely back to paradise, and it is here that at some uncertain point in Japanese history that the Daimonji-okuribi ceremony came into being.

On five mountain faces - or six, depending on how you look at it - all around Kyoto, giant characters and symbols are set aflame during Daimonji. The symbols shown are Dai (of which there are two, a larger one and a smaller one), Myo, Hou, a depiction of a Torii gate and a picture of a boat. The depictions are all highly symbolic, particularly Myo and Hou which together mean 'Supreme Buddhist Law'.

The symbols are lit in sequence around the city, and for a few, brief moments the awe inspiring sight of the massive, crackling conflagrations light the night air in the valley.

Laura and I have now watched his spectacular ceremony two years running: the first year we were positioned in Funaokayama park in the Northwestern part of the city, and in the second year in Matsukahashi in the Northeast. Funaokayama park gives a close view of the Left Dai, while at the same time allowing you to see the Main Dai across the valley as well as the boat. From Matsukahashi you can see the Main Dai, and you are right at the foot of either Myo or Hou (you have to choose one or the other). I prefer the close-up venues, as they tend to be more intimate, and you get a real feel for the ceremony, avoiding the thronging crowds you would find in Kita-Oji or Demachi-Yanagi.

Attendants hover around the flames on the mountain side.

From Funaokayama we were able to watch as a line of torch bearers snaked its way up the darkened mountainside, heading slowly up to where the pyres awaited them. Eventually the group crested the mountain and disappeared from view, but then, as we heard gasps and cries of excitement as the other symbols around the city burst aflame, the group appeared suddenly atop the mountain, torches flaming brightly.

Marching down the mountainside, this time with speed and purpose, the group fanned out, their numbers quickly describing the shape of the dai. The crowd was electric as the mountain face in front of us burst into flames, the darkness of night suddenly dispelled by the intensity of the flames.Click play to see the ceremony in action.