Kyoto's Three Strange Festivals

...The famous "Bamboo Cutting Festival" is held on June 20th in front of the main hall, where two groups of priests, one from the east and one from the west, compete to cut four green bamboo stalks, which are like giant snakes, with their mountain knives, in order to predict the year's harvest. The "Kurama Fire Festival" held in the middle of the night on October 22nd is the annual festival of the guardian Yuki Shrine, and people in front of the temple gates parade around holding torches and shouting "Sairei Sairyo" (festival, festival), making Mount Kurama look like a sea of ​​fire. It is considered one of the three strange festivals of Kyoto, along with the Ushi Matsuri at Koryuji Temple and the Yasurai Matsuri at Imamiya Shrine. [Fujii Manabu]...

*Some of the terms used in reference to the "Three Strange Festivals of Kyoto" are explained below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…有名な〈竹伐り祭〉は，6月20日に本堂の前で，大蛇に見立てた青竹4本を東西2手の山法師が山刀で切り競い，その年の豊凶を占う祭りである。また10月22日の夜中に行われる〈鞍馬の火祭〉は，鎮守の由岐（ゆき）神社の例祭で，当寺の門前の人びとが炬火（たいまつ）をもって〈祭礼祭礼（さいれいさいりよう）〉と叫びながら練り歩き，鞍馬の山は火の海のように見え，広隆寺の牛祭，今宮神社の〈やすらい祭〉とともに京都三奇祭とされる。【藤井 学】。…

※「京都三奇祭」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報