When Lanterns Float and Spirits Glide in Kyoto’s Gozan Okuribi
Every August in Kyoto, the mountains flicker with enormous bonfires shaped like kanji characters—a luminous farewell known as Gozan Okuribi. While many imagine this as a simple summer festival, its roots reach deep into Buddhist beliefs about guiding ancestral spirits home.
Five mountains ignite in sequence, each blaze forming a symbol visible across the city. The most famous, the giant "Dai" (meaning "great"), signals the moment when spirits, welcomed during Obon, are gently sent back to the afterlife. The fires aren’t just for show—they’re thought to light the way for ancestors, blending reverence with spectacle.
This ritual weaves together Kyoto’s landscape, spiritual memory, and community, turning a city’s skyline into a fleeting message to the beyond. For one night, fire becomes both guide and goodbye, burning bright against the summer dusk.
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