On August 16th the Daimonji festival took place in Kyoto. Groups of bonfires are lit at six mountainside locations around the city. When burning the bonfires create giant kanji (chinese symbols) that can be seen from miles around. The most famous is Daimonji, appropriately the symbol means big. To give some understanding of scale, the horizontal stroke is 80 meters long.

The day before the event I scouted out the area looking for a good viewpoint. I was amazingly lucky when I managed to get myself invited to a rooftop for the event so I could get a clear view free of wiring or buildings. Thank you so much to the staff at camera shop Korakudo!

On the night, I got a clear shot of the Daimonji, and it was great to hang out with everyone on the rooftop.

Daimonji, Kyoto

Unfortunately the conditions were not exactly how I would have liked them. What I had hoped for was a crystal clear sky which would have retained a blue/purple tint  while providing a nice silhouette of the darker mountain.

But that’s the great thing about annual events – there’s always next year.