Straddling a giant log, six men peer over the edge of a precipitous slope. There, they teeter as buglers and bards, dressed in bright robes and knickers, whip up the crowd.
Minutes later, a green flag goes up and the log hurtles down, twisting and bucking until it reaches a narrow paved road 100m below and throwing most of its riders along the way.
"Someone always gets hurt. I fell off and broke a rib on my first time down," said Kazuaki Miyasaka, a spry 60-year-old former sushi chef for whom this year's ride Friday was his fourth -- and final.
It's an unusually cavalier stunt in a country where decorum is cherished. But when it comes to Japanese festivals, the usual rules of conduct don't apply.
Every year, the Japanese stage thousands of festivals, big and small, celebrating traditions dating back centuries. Some mark the occasion when the gods of the country's indigenous Shinto religion commune with the townspeople who pay to upkeep local shrines. Others have ties to Buddhism or play on superstitions about the need to ward off evil spirits.
Mostly, though, they offer people a rare chance to let loose, and many take advantage of that by being outlandish or getting raucously drunk.
For sheer over-the-top zeal, nothing beats the "Onbashira," or sacred pillar, festival.
Held once every six years in the central Japanese towns along Suwa Lake, the festival combines the nature worship of Shinto with a dash of bravado and derring-do. Priests say it's ancient -- the oldest references to it go back more than 1,200 years to the time of Japan's first written histories, when "ujiko," or shrine parishioners, organized the events, much as they do today.
Over several months, the residents of this area fell sixteen massive ancient trees and drag them from the nearby mountains into town, where they are paraded down the main streets with music and dancing. Eventually, four logs will stand at the corners of each of Suwa Grand Shrine's four lesser shrines: Maemiya and Honmiya on the northern shore of the lake; and Harumiya and Akimiya on the southern side.
Residents believe deities dwell in the trees and the posts are supposed to bring spiritual renewal to the shrines, which represent the gods of hunting, farming, wind and water.
As one of Japan's biggest festivals, the Onbashira attracts a total of 2 million spectators. Thousands of townspeople are expected to take part in this year's festival.
On Friday, dozens of men and a few women in aprons or waist-length robes, knickers and the split-toed, knee-high shoes called "jikatabi" gathered in the morning half-light near eight logs cut earlier this year from fir trees hundreds of years old.
After a Shinto priest performed a purification ceremony with chants and a sprinkling of salt, everyone took sides along two massive straw ropes and began hauling the trees, the biggest of which measure more than 1 meter across and 17m-long and weigh over 12 tonnes.
Only three of the trees would make the first half of the trip into town; the others are expected to go over the next few days.
It's slow going: Nearly eight hours after the groups begin steering the monstrous trunks along the narrow mountain path, they arrived at the ledge for the "kiotoshi," the log ride that is by far the biggest tourist draw.
And it doesn't disappoint. Think of it as a mix of religion and show and extreme sport.
One minute, the riders are atop the log egging on the crowd and taking their positions as fireworks explode and bards sing folksongs to ask the townspeople to lend the men their strength. Buglers belt out a cavalry charge tune. A carpenter chops away the log's final support with a steel ax he carries in a straw sling.
Then, the riders are barreling down the hill, trying without much success to stay on.
Almost every year, a few riders -- or onlookers -- die and dozens more are hurt. That's why festival officials now choose riders beforehand based on fitness and past experience. And former riders like six-time downhiller, Hajime Okubo, coach neophytes on the fine points of leaning and holding on.
But danger is part of the thrill, according to Kunitake Fujimori, the 39-year-old owner of a construction firm who rode at the coveted head of the biggest of the day's logs. If it weren't for the risks, the festivities might lose their excitement.
"It gets the blood pumping," said Fujimori.
Miyasaka, the 60-year-old veteran, puts it differently: "Without the ride, it just wouldn't be a festival."
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and