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Nachi Fire Festival (Wakayama). Click to enlarge image.

The Nachi Fire Festival is one of Japan's cultural gems. Listed as an intangible cultural asset the festival has a history of more than 1500 years and is one of the most spectacular festivals of the summer. Held on July 14th each year, the Nachi no Hi Matsuri or Nachi Ogi Matsuri (Fan Festival) is a traditional fire festival involving ritual offerings, music and dance.

Using one of our 10 seater minivans, Yamasa's Discovery Program visits the festival which is held in a remote area of the Yoshino-Kumano National Park on the Kii Peninsula. The shrines where the Nachi Fire Festival takes place are part of the UNESCO World Heritage list, the Kumano Nachi Grand Shrine and the Hiryu shrine, which is located at the base of the massive Nachi waterfall, which with a 133 meter (about 436 feet) drop is the highest waterfall in Japan.

The festival involves 12 (portable) mikoshi shrines, each decorated with mirrors and gold, and 12 massive ceremonial torches. Carried from Kumano Nachi Grand Shrine down the old Kumano road to the Hiryu shrine, they are then purified by fire and water. The festival is fantastic, you can feel the spray from the waterfall and you can feel the heat on your face from the torches - it is usually prudent to keep a safe distance as it is isn't unusual for the fire bearers to lose control and singe a few spectators.

To enable students to see the Nachi Fire festival, Yamasa arranges for the July Discovery tour to cover the festival itself, as well as the three great mountain shrines of Nachi, Hongu and Shingu, the Taiji whale museum and whale hunting ship, the port of Kii Katsuura with its beautiful coastline and superb onsens including Yunomine Onsen - the oldest hot spring in Japan. The tour also includes the beautiful and remote Dorokyo Gorge (seen by jetboat) and the wonderful Maruyama Senmaida, before continuing on to Kyoto and the Gion Festival.

To provide a maximum possible number of course options, it is possible to participate in the July Discovery tour either during or after a course of studies, and students can choose either SILAC, Acceleration Format 2 (Options A, B, or C) or private lessons. For more information please read the Discovery Program files.

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Questions regarding this file...

If any of the information in this file is unclear, or if you need more detailed information, please click here and read the study/applications section of the FAQ before contacting us. Best regards, Declan Murphy.

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