Hanase Matsuage Torch-Lighting Festival

The matsuage torch-lighting event is a ritual offering of fire for protection against fires based on the Mount Atago faith that has been passed down in the villages nestled in the mountain valleys between northern Kyoto and Wakasa.
The Hanase Matsuage is now held on August 15 for a number of reasons, but traditionally, it was held late at night on August 23, and after it finished, people all gathered at their local shrine dedicated to the god Atago to hold a mountain-worship ritual known as the Atago-ko confraternity .
A framework is assembled in an open area called the torogiba, by the Kami- Katsura River, and inside, the torogi, a giant torch , is erected: a huge twenty-meter pole of cypress wood topped with a basket full of dried cedar leaves. Around it, a thousand small ground torches known as jimatsu (torches attached to bamboo stakes in the ground) are set and lit. Small agematsu torches made from bundles of cypress with straw rope handles are then lit from them and hurled up towards the basket. The ritual reaches its climax when the torogi basket catches on fire and becomes a gigantic flaming torch, upon which the torogi is toppled to the ground. This is a simple yet grand fire festival held in mountain villages.
Kyoto City