Kyoto & Osaka · Wakayama · Nachikatsuura

Nachi Fire Festival

那智の扇祭り

Every 14 July the deities of Kumano Nachi Taisha are carried down to the Nachi waterfall in twelve tall, fan-covered portable shrines, while twelve great torches purify the path before them with fire.

14 July 2027

258 days away

Every year, 14 July

Future dates: 14 July 2027 · 14 July 2028 · 14 July 2029

Origin

According to Kumano Nachi Taisha, worship on Mount Nachi began, as tradition has it, when the legendary Emperor Jimmu honoured the waterfall as the embodiment of the deity Ōnamuchi (Ōkuninushi), and the shrine dates from the moving of its halls from the foot of the falls to the mountainside, said to have happened in the fifth year of Emperor Nintoku. In the Ōgi Matsuri, the “Fan Festival”, the deities are moved from the main shrine into twelve ōgi-mikoshi — fan-covered portable shrines — and carried to the waterfall, an expression of the reverence for water at the heart of the cult of the falls. Because great torches purify the path with fire, it is also known as the Nachi Fire Festival. It was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan in 2015.

What to look for

The climax is the Ohi Gyōji, the fire rite, from about 2 p.m.: white-robed parishioners carry twelve great torches — the heaviest weighs about 50 kg — onto the stone steps leading to the falls, where they meet the fan shrines and purify them with flame. Each ōgi-mikoshi is a board about six metres tall hung with thirty-two golden fans and a mirror, its shape representing the Nachi falls. In the morning, on a stage in the shrine grounds, children perform the Yamato-mai dances and local people perform Nachi no Dengaku, a field-music dance on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, followed by a rice-planting rite. After the fire rite, in front of the waterfall, a priest in a crow-shaped hat strikes the mirrors of the shrines with a pine torch in the Ōgi-home rite, and the shrines return to the main hall at around 3:30 p.m.

How to watch

Wakayama Prefecture’s notice warns that the torches throw up flames and sparks during the fire rite, and asks spectators to stay behind the barrier lines. In bad weather or after a natural disaster parts of the rite may be changed or cancelled.

If you go

Admission is free and no booking is needed. The path below the falls gets very crowded at the time of the fire rite, and Nachikatsuura town advises arriving early and waiting along the path. The paid car parks on Mount Nachi usually fill by about 10:30 a.m.; after that, drivers are directed to temporary car parks partway up the mountain, such as the Daimonzaka car park, and free shuttle buses. The shrine asks visitors to use public transport where possible: take a local bus from JR Kii-Katsuura Station to Nachisan, the only stop where buses pick up and drop off on the day. There are many stone steps, some slippery, so wear sturdy shoes and come prepared for the heat.

Where

Hirō Shrine (Nachi Falls)

Nachikatsuura, Wakayama

Open in maps

Sources

← All festivals