2027.01.15 · Coming soon

One night, the shrine tower burns.

Nozawa Onsen Dosojin Fire Festival 2027

Nozawa Onsen’s Dosojin festival is three centuries old, called one of Japan’s three great fire festivals and listed as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. It is held every 15 January, run by the village’s own council, the Nozawa-gumi, around men in their unlucky years, 25 and 42. The autumn before, they fell beech trees some 20 metres tall; on 13 January they haul them through the spa town, and from the morning of the 14th they build the shrine tower by hand, without a single nail or wire. Around 8.50pm on the 15th, villagers charge with torches while the 25-year-olds defend from below and the 42-year-olds sit on top; after about an hour and a half both sides clap hands, the tower is set alight and burns until it falls.