About This Video
The Oto Matsuri or in English the Oto fire festival is held every year on the 6th of February at Kamikura Jinja Shrine in Wakayama prefecture. It has the honor of being among Japan’s most famous Matsuri with around 1,500 to 2,000 participants joining every year for over 1,400 years!!! There are different interpretations for this festival but one that is commonly used is set around a purification ritual with prayers made for a good harvest where men dressed in white race down 538 steep steps with flaming torches lit from a sacred fire.
The Oto Matsuri usually starts early in the morning with a purification ceremony and when priests pray until the first ray of light at the sunshine on a beach near Kamikura Jinja. Then during the day men get ready and parade around the town until night comes where they have to climb up the 538 stairs leading to the shrine and wait for the sacred fire to be lit and the main ceremony to start.
This video was made in Cooperation with Wakayama Tourism Federation. Learn more about Wakayama Prefecture at https://en.visitwakayama.jp
