In Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, the annual autumn festival is held at Nanakuri-jinja Shrine from the late September to early October every year.
This Japanese traditional festival has been continued for about 700 years to pray (or thank) for huge harvest, a state of perfect health.
The seven young men selected from nearby villages dance with a heavy wooden pail (about 20 kg in weight) around a 10-meter-tall turret.
A unique dance performed while raising a pail over the head is called ‘’Oke-Furi’’. (Oke means a pail and Furi shows a state being raised up in Japanese, respectively)
The inspiring sight in which seven naked brave men perform a dance under a shower of sparks from fireworks mounted on the tip part of a turret is certainly worth seeing.
A pail is a kind of container, which has been used as a container for food storage (or transportation) from ancient times in Japan.
Therefore, it is thought that people prayed for huge harvest, a state of perfect health using this pail deeply related to food.
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