Tokyo Explorer

August 16^th will once again see the annual lighting of the huge Chinese characters or images seemingly cut into the mountains surrounding Kyoto, and for those still in the sweltering former capital come the middle of the month, here is no better way to cool off than to head down to the Kamogawa River with a six pack, perhaps a cocktail or two and some friends.

Evening time usually sees the temperature drop quite dramatically in the city centre, and the masses heading to the historical vein of Kyoto to while away the evening on the temporary balcony of a café overlooking the river. As the cool breezes blowing down from the hills offer a welcome respite from the heat of the day, to then see the distant figures slowly ignite and all of a sudden burst into flame is a view not to be missed if anywhere remotely close to the city in the summer.

The fires are usually lit at or around 20:00 as the lights of the city dip, and the black of the sky combines with the leaping flames to send thousands of embers into the night sky.

Each character or pictograph is actually a huge bonfire shaped to represent various aspects of Japan’s, and Kyoto in particular’s history.

The largest of the bonfires is around 160m in length although he majority are somewhat shorter and the actual mounds of burnable material at least as tall as a man The annual burning of the pyres dates back at least four centuries and is mentioned in documents from 1603 but other claims have the ritual going back even further to the Heian-era when they were originally used to ward off evil spirits.

Nowadays, in keeping with the disdain for most things spiritual, the event is more about entertainment and a reason to have friends get together than it is in appeasement of spirits from another world.

If in Kyoto on the 16^th, find yourself an empty chair with a view of the surrounding hills, sit back and enjoy the blaze.