Yamayaki

What a great concept! Set a whole mountain on fire! Alas, it was not what I had hoped.

Nara, a beautiful city just east of Osaka, is one of Japan's oldest cities and a former capital. It has a huge park surrounded by amazing temples and gardens. This park is also filled with free-roaming, greedy deer. A great place to stroll around for a day visit.

Last weekend was yamayaki, which means "mountain burning." The origins of the ritual are uncertian, as it's been going on for quite a few centuries, but it probably has something to do with cleansing and purification. One of the mountians (I forget which one) just outside the park is reserved for burning when January comes around. On the night of, a group of monks from one of the temples marches through the park and up the mountain, then sets it on fire. There's a little fireworks show beforehand to get the crowd warmed up for the big blaze.

I had great expectations for this event. How could burning a giant mountian side not be killer? I will tell you; it took forever! They started fires on the side and bottom of the hill, but the thing just never went up in flames like I had imagined. I watched it for a good fifteen minutes and the fire had moved maybe 20 feet. By then my toes and fingers were numb and I needed to get the hell out of that cold. I just grabbed a few snapshots and bolted back home to sit in front of my space heater.

This picture shows the extent of the fire by the time I left, the little light on top is the top of the mountain.

If only they had doused the field in gasoline, or perhaps brought in flame-thrower squads, the show would have lived up to it's name. I would have paid to see that.