The Party Begins

There's a crowd, there's a film crew and it's centered around a big structure made of wood that's gonna get burnt down. The thing that makes it interesting is that there are a bunch of 42 year olds standing on top, 25 year olds guarding it and all the rest trying to burn it down. If you want to see it, come here on the 15th of January. Rain, snow or shine, it'll happen.

It started somewhere around 1863. Well, the festival did anyway. The idea goes way back when language and superstition started. See, the numbers 4 and 2 in Japanese can be read "shi" and "ni". Together, its "shini" which appropriately means "death", so all the 42 year olds of the village get to stand up on the structure and await... or avoid their 'fate' and live to see another year of their happy lives. On the other hand the 25 year olds should be ready for marriage and have established their career. That's considered a bad luck year anyway.

This is the Dosojin festival. Lots of fun to be had here.

An ode to sake

Crowding the platform

Getting in close

Into the fire