Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2014

As fireworks go up, the tones of six giant odaiko drums ring out, leading eight mikoshi (portable shrines) to the climax of the Kurayami Matsuri—Okunitama Shrine’s annual Darkness Festival. Said to be one of the three oldest festivals in the Kanto region, each year as many as 700,000 people celebrate as the shrine’s sacred spirits are transported to their temporary homes under cover of darkness, said to be necessary because they are not to be seen by the human eye while outside the shrine. A variety of historical events are on offer at all hours throughout each of the festival’s seven days and nights, while the mikoshi parade leaves the shrine at 6pm May 5 and returns at 4am the next morning.
Until May 6, Okunitama Shrine.