Pop Japan

The Onbashira Festival is the celebration of replacing the four wooden pillars standing on the four corners of local shrines. It is a symbolic renewal of the shrine’s buildings, happening every six years. The festival is known for being the most dangerous in Japan, because of the casualties. Celebrated in the Suwa area in Nagano Prefecture, the Onbashira, meaning ‘the honorable pillars,’ attracts thousands of people who participate in moving the 16 fir tree trunks from the mountains to the shrines. The trunks are pulled with ropes through hills, a river and across streets to complete the 1, 200-year-old ritual.                                                    

Photo by: 利用者:Si-take. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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