These photo's were taken at the Kurama Hi Matsuri (Kurama Fire Festival) We asked a few of the people what the festival was about, and the most we could really understand from our broken English/Japanese conversations was that it was in honour of the fire god, who is not to be confused with the sun god (or was it the other way around...) Although I had the feeling that the people who were displaying the fire in front of they're houses were more interested in showing off they're houses, costumes, and talking with neighbors and visitors, than following any religious doctrine.
One of the most interesting things for me about Japanese religions is that they dont have just
one god figure, they have many. Catholic and Christain ancestors did too, until a couple thousand years ago when the 'dominators' wiped out as many opposing religions as possible in the the name of the one "true" god. Another interesting thing I have heard about one of the Japanese religions (I think it was Zen Bhuddism but I can't remember where I heard this...) is that the goal is to reach such an understanding of life that you dont need to learn from your sensei anymore, but rather you use your knowledge to teach and help others. There certainly was a lot of helping going on at this festival, as people seemed to enjoy making the effort to share the load of the heavy fire torches.
This photo is of some of the thousands of people who came to take photo's of the spectacular event. Is this a sign of Japan turning religous events into tourist attractions?? Maybe... but I dont think so... I mean the event is still serving the purpose of bringing people together, and this fire festival felt more spiritual to me than many of the chapels and churches in Europe and Australia that I've been to. After all, millions of people flock to see the pope and take photo's, and I certainly think that seeing people interact with fire is more worthy of attention than some tired old italian dude, telling people how to live as if he knows best. As we walked down the eerie streets of Kurama I felt that this was a celebration of life, and an appreciation of people's efforts instantly grew within me (or maybe that was the beer!?!) either way I certainly had a religious experience which was for me, much closer to god than any of the boring sermons or tedious sunday school lectures I was forced to attend as a child.
These photo's were taken at the Kurama Hi Matsuri (Kurama Fire Festival) We asked a few of the people what the festival was about, and the most we could really understand from our broken English/Japanese conversations was that it was in honour of the fire god, who is not to be confused with the sun god (or was it the other way around...) Although I had the feeling that the people who were displaying the fire in front of they're houses were more interested in showing off they're houses, costumes, and talking with neighbors and visitors, than following any religious doctrine. 
one god figure, they have many. Catholic and Christain ancestors did too, until a couple thousand years ago when the 'dominators' wiped out as many opposing religions as possible in the the name of the one "true" god. Another interesting thing I have heard about one of the Japanese religions (I think it was Zen Bhuddism but I can't remember where I heard this...) is that the goal is to reach such an understanding of life that you dont need to learn from your sensei anymore, but rather you use your knowledge to teach and help others. There certainly was a lot of helping going on at this festival, as people seemed to enjoy making the effort to share the load of the heavy fire torches.
This photo is of some of the thousands of people who came to take photo's of the spectacular event. Is this a sign of Japan turning religous events into tourist attractions?? Maybe... but I dont think so... I mean the event is still serving the purpose of bringing people together, and this fire festival felt more spiritual to me than many of the chapels and churches in Europe and Australia that I've been to. After all, millions of people flock to see the pope and take photo's, and I certainly think that seeing people interact with fire is more worthy of attention than some tired old italian dude, telling people how to live as if he knows best. As we walked down the eerie streets of Kurama I felt that this was a celebration of life, and an appreciation of people's efforts instantly grew within me (or maybe that was the beer!?!) either way I certainly had a religious experience which was for me, much closer to god than any of the boring sermons or tedious sunday school lectures I was forced to attend as a child.
Nice topic and very nice pictures - pictorially you capture the scene quite nicely. Some research about the specific festival and Japanese religion in general would have made for a stronger post.
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