Yoshida no Himatsuri (Yoshida Fire Festival)

Named one of Japan's 3 Most Unique Festivals, the Yoshida-no-Himatsuri has long mesmerized spectators who come from far and wide to witness the towering torches set ablaze along the main thoroughfare in the heart of the city.

It is an autumnal festival held on the 26th and 27th of August every year at Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine and Suwa Jinja Shrine to mark the end the climbing season of Mt. Fuji.

In the afternoon of August 26th, after a ritual is held at the shrine, two mikoshi (portable shrines) − one named "Omyojin-san" and the other called "Goei", or "Oyama-san"− are carried through the Kamiyoshida neighborhood by parishioners.

In the evening, as the mikoshis enter the "otabisho" where they will rest over night, close to 70 giant torches each standing nearly 3 meters in height are ignited, lighting up the sky.

In the late afternoon of the next day, the two mikoshis are paraded through the town by parishioners before returning to the shrines. The climax of this two-day festival is when the mikoshis return to the shrine grounds and circle the "taka-amahara" followed by a large procession of parishioners and worshippers holding "susukino tamagushi" (pampas grass) in their hands.