Priests, impeccably dressed in traditional robes and delicately woven sashes, shake sacred rattles to warn insects of the ceremony soon to begin. Others blow on conch shells that give clear resonant notes like the warning blasts of an approaching ship.
Reverberating throughout is the monotone drone of priests and followers chanting sacred sutras. Smoke billowing up from the fire before them adds to the mystique. Then, the main event begins. The head priest leads the way, casting fistfuls of salt like a farmer sowing seeds as he makes his way barefoot across the smouldering embers.
The Hiwatari fire-walking festival is a purification ritual that takes place across Japan. At Mount Takao, 50km from central Tokyo, yamabushi mountain priests from the Shingon sect and brave members of the public tread gingerly across smouldering embers, the remnants of a gigantic bonfire set ablaze by a sacred arrow.
The event is replete with symbolic ritual, such as the burning on the bonfire of thousands of wooden tablets. On them worshipers seeking purification have written their names. Though popular with sightseers, the deep spiritualness of the event is very much in evidence.
The festival takes place on the second Sunday of March every year.