"Taimatsu," or torches, swirled through the late summer night sky in the "Hanase Matsuage" ritual on a riverbed in Hanase Yamasu-cho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto on the evening of August 15. Cheers erupted from the watching crowd as the lit torches soared in the sky.

The "Matsuage" annual event is a tradition in the Rakuhoku region of Kyoto, meant to send off the spirits of the deceased, and prays for fire disaster prevention, as well as bumper crops, based on the Atago-shinko folk belief.

Nearly a thousand domestic pine torches were kindled around the dry river bed before 9:00 p.m. Local men called out while swirling about a hundred "Agematsu," or hurling torches with attached strings, then threw them one after another toward the "Ohgasa" basket atop a 20-meter-high log.

The festival reached its climax when the Ohgasa was lit, causing the crowd to cheer and applaud. With faces dyed red, tourists from afar stared in excitement at the flames burning in the night sky.