Oto Fire Festival

The vigorous scene at Oto-Matsuri (fire festival) in Shingu City.

Every year on the evening of 6th February, Kamikura-jinja Shrine plays host to this highly animated demonstration of courage, as almost 2,000 men dressed in white with rope wrapped around their waist, cladding straw sandals and carrying a torch in one hand assail the steep 538 steps of Kamikura-jinja Shrine.

The origin of this festival is rooted in the legend that the deity of Kumano who descended upon Mt. Kamikura settled in Kumano Hayatama Taisha Grand Shrine.