Photos: Ganden · CC BY 3.0 (1, 2) · HAGAT hOMSZE · CC0 (3, 4) · josef knecht · CC BY 3.0
At Okera-mairi, Yasaka Shrine's New Year's Eve rite, people light a bamboo-fibre kitchō-nawa rope from the okera fire, which is kindled on 28 December with a fire drill and burns the aromatic okera root. They whirl the rope in circles as they walk home so the ember stays alive, then use it to light the household altar lamp or the fire for the New Year zōni.
Why it's unique
This is a Kyoto year-end custom: the fire is kindled by fire drill days in advance, shared out after the evening rite on 31 December, and carried home on a spinning rope. The researcher filed it at city level and was unsure whether to go wider.
What you do here is not watch a ceremony but take part in it: you leave carrying fire, spinning it through the streets, and the burnt rope stays in the kitchen as a fire charm for the year.
Before you go
The fire is shared from about 19:30 after the 19:00 joya-sai, and burns all night with wooden okera-gi sticks carrying people's wishes. The crush peaks around midnight, when entry narrows to the Shijō and Maruyama Park sides; arrive at 19:30 to 20:00 or after 2:00.
You cannot take a lit rope onto trains (people once did), so most people now walk part of the way spinning it, then put it out and keep the burnt rope in the kitchen as a fire charm. The rope is bamboo rather than straw because straw burns through too fast. Ropes are sold on site, about ¥700 in recent years. The shrine's official site could not be fetched during research, so check details before going.
