Japan’s Nara Holds Traditional Grass-Burning Event with Fireworks Held at Mt. Wakakusa, Lighting Up Night Sky

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:31 JST, January 25, 2026

NARA — About 600 fireworks were launched and grassland was set on fire for a traditional grass-burning festival on a mountain in Nara on Saturday night, captivating a large number of tourists and other spectators.

The Yamayaki festival, which offers prayers for peace and the repose of the souls of ancestors, took place on Mt. Wakakusa, which rises 342 meters above sea level. About 300 members of the city’s volunteer fire corps set fire to about 33 hectares of grassland located at the foot of the mountain, using conch shells and trumpets as signals. The fires quickly spread toward the summit, bathing the slope in an orange light.

This year, for the first time, paid viewing areas were set up inside the Mt. Wakakusa foothill gate, which allowed visitors to get a close-up view of the burning mountain, and on the roof of Nara Park bus terminal located near the prefectural government office.

“This is my third time coming to see it, but the flames spread the fastest this time,” said a 28-year-old office worker who visited with family from Ikoma, Nara Prefecture. “It was incredibly beautiful and truly breathtaking.”