The story
Onbashira Festival in Suwa
The Onbashira Festival, held once every six years in the Tiger and Monkey zodiac years at Suwa Taisha shrine in Nagano, has continued for roughly 1,200 years. Sixteen giant fir trees, each about 19 meters long and 7.5 tons, are hand-hauled from the mountains and raised at the shrine's four sanctuaries, with the dangerous kiotoshi log-riding and kawagoshi river-crossing rites making it one of Japan's most perilous religious traditions.
Formally known as the Shikinen Zoei Mihashira Taisai, the Onbashira Festival stands as the largest and most sacred rite of Suwa Taisha, an ancient shrine complex with four separate sanctuaries arranged around Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture, dedicated to the deity Takeminakata no Kami and reputed to have continued in uninterrupted observance for roughly 1,200 years, a claim that places it among the most enduring ritual traditions anywhere in Japan.