Onbashira Sai
Japan
- SuwaPosted on April 9, 2010 by Stefan
Filed under Gallery, Onbashira, Suwa
The Obashira is a special festival. It only happens every 6 years and is a celebration for renewing the pillars of the Suwa Taisha head shrines (there are 4 of them located in the area) . There are multiple parts to this festival. In April they have the “Yamadashi” (where they bring the trees down the mountain) and in May there is the “Satobiki” were they put the logs into place at the shrine. In the middle of June the festival ends with the “Hoden” ceremony.
The most exciting part of the festival happens during the Yamadashi, where they will ride on the tree logs down a steep hill. Injuries, bone fractures, and sometimes even death happen frequently in this dangerous event where the up to 13 tonnes heavy logs slide uncontrollable down the hill.
Transport: Take the train to Shimosuwa station and from there board one of the shuttle buses that takes you up the mountain. Parking for cars is limited and unless you take the shuttle bus you will have to walk a couple of kilometers up the mountain.
Website: The Onbashira has it’s own dedicated website here (in Japanese as well as English).
Mad and so exciting. Another great festival I’ll never see! The girls look exactly the same as at onna mikoshi in Matsuyama.
Absolute crazy festival! – i loved it a lot! I was actually planning on going to see two days of it (not just one), but i caught a terrible sunburn on the first day and decided to go back home early ;-/ ! I just wished i would have had a good zoom lens with me that day. Most of the action was way out of reach of my camera lens. A professional photographer managed to take some way better shots of the festival at http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2010/04/onbashira-festival.html .