Yoshida Fire Festival and Susuki Festival
The Yoshida Fire Festival is an autumn festival held jointly by Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine and Suwa-jinja Shrine on August 26 and 27. It is viewed as a “mountain-closing” festival to mark the end of the climbing season.
On the first day, some 80 torches, each 3 meters high, are erected at locations throughout the streets of Fujiyoshida. When evening falls, a performance of sacred kagura music begins and the torches are lit, creating a sea of fire.
The Image of Mt. Fuji
Two mikoshi (portable shrines) are carried through the streets during the fire festival. One is a model of Mt. Fuji made of gleaming, red-lacquered wood that weighs one ton. Known as the mikage, or image, this mikoshi is slammed to the ground three times during pauses in its progress through the town. Several other shrines in the region also have distinctive Fuji-shaped mikoshi. The origin of the tradition is obscure, but an inscription inside the mikage says that it was built in 1704.
Susuki Festival
The Susuki Festival is held on the afternoon of August 27, when the mikoshi are carried back to the shrine from the otabisho (resting place) where they spent the night. Worshipers bearing sprigs of susuki (Japanese silvergrass) sanctified with white paper strips follow the mikoshi back to the shrine, then circle the area of the shrine precincts called the Takamanohara (Plain of High Heaven) several times.