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Yamayaki: Hill Burning

Mt.Wakakusa-yama, Nara Japan

29 January 2011

The Yamayaki Festival has a flare for tradition! This fiery rebirth ritual takes place annually on Wakakusa Hill in Nara Park, Japan. Every January during Wakakusa Yamayaki, local monks fulfill a tradition hundreds of years old which involves setting the entire 342-meter-tall Hill ablaze. The origin of Wakakusa Yamayaki dates back to the Kamakura Period, between 1185 and 1333. It is thought this ritual was begun to rid farmland of pests and dead vegetation, and to prepare the earth for new growth in spring. This preparation for new life is a beautiful sight to see, as the flames leap high in the winter night sky.

Wakakusa Yamayaki begins at around 5:30 p.m. with purification rituals and sacraments, as well as prayers for safety during the fiery event. Following this a procession of locals and monks carrying torches stream from the Silk Road Exchange Hall in Nara Park to Wakakusa Hill. When the time comes to set alight to Wakakusa Hill, monks will sound blasts on conch shells. The dead winter grass at the base the hill is then ignited by priests dressed as warriors. They use torches lit with the sacred flames of Kasuga Shrine (known as Kasuga Taisha), originally built in 768 AD as a powerful royal shrine. In accordance with the Shinto concepts of purity, the Shrine was destroyed and rebuilt in its original form every twenty years, continuing this way until 1863.

More than 100,000 people come to watch Wakakusa Yamayaki each year. Once the hill is set ablaze, it takes less than an hour for the whole thing to be engulfed in flames. The best views of this fiery spectacle are to be had at the foot of the hill in Nara Park. After the event, fireworks light up the sky to prepare Japan for new beginnings.

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