Yoshida Fire Festival: Nationally Designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, One of Japan's Three Unusual Festivals

The "Fire Suppression Festival," held annually on August 26th and 27th, is also known as the "Yoshida Fire Festival" and is a festival of Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine and Suwa Shrine.

On the afternoon of the 26th, the main shrine festival and the Suwa Shrine festival were held, with the large portable shrine and sacred image being carried through the parishioners, who were bustling with worshippers. As dusk fell, the shrine was enshrined at the temporary shrine, and at the same time, more than 100 large torches, each shaped like a bamboo shoot and reaching a height of 3 meters, and torches piled up in a grid pattern at each house were lit simultaneously, dyeing the night sky red and raising the temperature of the town, as the festival continued into the late hours.

On the afternoon of the 27th, the two portable shrines are carried through the parishioners' area and return to Asama Shrine as dusk approaches. The festival reaches its climax when parishioners and worshippers, carrying "susuki tamagushi" (sacred branches of pampas grass), follow the two portable shrines around Takamagahara (the realm of the gods). The 27th is also known as the "Susuki Festival."