Karigane Festival 2025

Going to this fire festival every year in October has become a tradition with my friends and I. It’s scary, but fascinating. One year, we participated as fire throwers, but once was enough. Since then, we’ve been happy to just watch. 

This is how it works - there are three straw baskets on high poles. Fire throwers wearing long pants, long sleeves, gloves, helmets, and goggles, throw wood blocks that are on fire and tied with a rope as high as they can, trying to get them in the basket. The baskets catch fire and eventually the poles fall down. There are safety people with hoses ready for when the fire gets out of hand.

The festival ends with fireworks.

Maybe this is only in Japan.