Fire walking Festival

Hiwatari-sai

By Tanja Houwerzijl

Every year at the "Yakouin" temple, near "Takaosanguchi" Station about 50 minutes outside of Tokyo, "Yamabushi" monks and practitioners of the "Shugendo" sect of Buddhism take part in the Fire walking festival or "Hiwatari-sai". The main attraction is the monks walking barefoot across the embers of burning wood to cleanse themselves of evil spirits, pray for world peace, longevity, safe passage in life, and general health and safety.

The event starts with a procession of chanting monks walking into the main event arena. This is followed by rituals and performances by the monks such as fending off evil spirits with various weaponry, flaying their bodies with branches dipped in boiling water, and the reading of a long-list of names of those who have paid for the privilege.

Following the pre-ceremony a square stack of fern leaves and wood is set alight. The heat from this bonfire is intense until the fern branches burn and the monks begin dowsing the flames with buckets of water. They then spread the ambers and prepare two strips through which they walk barefoot while chanting.

Members of the public can also pay a small fee to walk across the strips after the monks have finished. Hundreds of people patiently wait in line for their turn while the monks keep playing the taiko drums, encouraging the crowds to participate in this yearly ritual of cleansing.