Nachi Fire Festival (Nachi no Ogi Matsuri)
那智の扇祭り（那智の火祭り）
14 July 2027
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
These dates repeat every year, so they are what to expect in 2027 rather than dates the organiser has announced yet — this page is updated as soon as it confirms them. Last held 14 July 2026.
The Nachi Fire Festival is the annual rite of Kumano Nachi Taisha, the great shrine at the head of the Kumano pilgrimage routes, and it takes place on 14 July every year. Its purpose is to carry the shrine's twelve deities back to their original home at Nachi Falls, Japan's tallest single-drop waterfall, in twelve tall portable shrines shaped like folding fans and hung with mirrors. Before they descend the stone steps to Hiro Shrine at the foot of the falls, men in white carry a dozen huge pine torches up and down the steps to purify the way, and the smoke, sparks and roar of the flames in the forest gorge are what draw people here.
It is a daytime festival. The rites at the main shrine begin in the morning, and the fire ceremony at the waterfall steps starts around 14:00. The viewing area along the steps is limited by the terrain and fills early, so be at the approach to the falls by midday. The road up from Kii-Katsuura is closed to cars for the day and a shuttle bus runs from the station; allow time for it.
Nachikatsuura is a long way from anywhere by train, reached along the coast by limited express from Nagoya or Osaka, so most visitors fold the festival into a Kumano Kodo walk or a stay at the hot-spring port of Katsuura. Mid-July is hot and humid in Wakayama and the steps are steep. Expect a solemn Shinto rite with a crowd of the devout and the curious, not a fair; there are no stalls or parades beyond the shrine's own.