Fire Festival, Hojuji Temple, Kyoto

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We’re lucky to live near such place as the Hojuji temple.  It is a rather small temple, but a very beautiful and quite important one.  It offers us all kind of opportunities to assist and discover some beautiful ceremonies or festival on a small intimate scale.

The last one was the Fire Festival or Saitoudaigomakyo, during which Yamabushi priests (Japanese mountain ascetic hermits) performed all kind of rituals acts and burned a large quantity of these little wooden wish tablets.   The view of this priest through the flames was my favorite picture of the day.

 

In the church, Zunil, Guatemala
Kinkaku-Ji, the Golden Pavilion, Kyoto