Kurama Fire Festival鞍馬の火祭 · Kurama no Hi Matsuri

When it is held

The Kurama Fire Festival (鞍馬の火祭, Kurama no Hi Matsuri) is the annual festival of Yuki Shrine (由岐神社) in Kurama, in the mountains north of central Kyoto. It is held on October 22 every year, from about 6 pm until after midnight; in 2026 that is a Thursday. It goes ahead in rain, but a typhoon or other severe weather can lead to cancellation or changes.

Yuki Shrine counts it among Japan's three great fire festivals, and it is one of Kyoto's three great unusual festivals (京都三大奇祭).

What happens

• 9 am: the annual rite in the main hall, followed by the transfer of the shrine's deities, Yuki Daimyōjin and Hassho Daimyōjin, into two mikoshi.
• 6 pm: at the call "Jinji ni mairasshare" ("come to the festival"), the bonfires (篝, eji) stacked in front of every house in the village are lit at once. Boys carry small torches through the streets, and young men carrying huge blazing torches join them, chanting "Sairei, sairyō" as word of the departure times is passed between the groups.
• At the San-mon gate: as men in armor and the festival's halberds (chrysanthemum, paulownia, butterfly, hollyhock, phoenix, centipede and temple) emerge, the stone steps in front of the San-mon gate of Kurama-dera fill with young men holding up their torches. At a drum signal the sacred rope stretched between green bamboo is cut (shimenawa-kiri), and the festival turns from torches to mikoshi.
• The mikoshi descent: the mikoshi of Hassho Daimyōjin and then of Yuki Daimyōjin come down the approach with men in armor riding on top, while young women of the village hold ropes at the back to stop them rushing down the slopes and steps; pulling the rope is said to bring an easy childbirth. As each mikoshi descends the San-mon steps, two young men hang upside down from its poles with their legs spread wide, the choppen rite, said to be a remnant of a coming-of-age ceremony.
• Late night: the mikoshi tour the village and come to rest at the otabisho, where kagura is offered and four great kagura torches circle the grounds. On the morning of October 23 the deities return to the main hall.

History

In 940 (Tengyō 3), after earthquakes and the rebellion of Taira no Masakado had unsettled the capital, Emperor Suzaku ordered Yuki Daimyōjin, then enshrined in the Imperial Palace, moved to Kurama, north of the city, to pray for peace. The procession, said to have stretched about 1 km, was lit by torches made from reeds of the Kamo River and by bonfires along the road. Moved by the ceremony, the people of Kurama kept its memory alive, and this is said to be the origin of the fire festival.

How to watch

There are no seats. Spectators walk along a set route through the village and are asked not to stop or linger, following the directions of police and stewards. Before the procession the shrine closes the area above the San-mon gate, and its offering counter closes at about 4:30 pm.

From 3 pm the road between Kibuneguchi and Kurama Onsen is closed to general traffic and all car parks are closed, so take the Eizan Railway to Kurama Station, a six-minute walk from the shrine. In 2025 about 4,600 people came to watch, according to the Kyoto City Fire Department.