The "Kurama Fire Festival" was held on the night of October 22 in the neighborhood around Yuki Shrine in Kurama-honmachi, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto. Huge torches, dynamically paraded through the area while stirring chants of "Saireiya, Sairyo" reverberated through the autumn night sky.

The festival recreates a historical event from 940 when a procession marched carrying hand-held torches along a bonfire-lit route to transfer the god of Yuki Shrine, which had originally been enshrined in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, to Kurama in order to make it a guardian deity of the north of the ancient capital.

Just after 6:00p.m., torches were lit at the signal cry of "Jinji ni Mairasshare," or "come to the ritual." The number of lit torches gradually increased, and around 8:30 p.m., 4-meter-long torches lined the bottom of the stone steps leading to the Sanmon gate of Kurama-dera Temple, accompanied by the beat of drums and the bells on "Kenboko," a ritual item. The festival reached its climax as the excitement filled the air with the sound and the blazing fire.

According to the Shimogamo Police Station, approximately 11,000 spectators turned out for the event.