Although I started scanning the images from my trip in order, I grew impatient and skipped to the grand finale. The Onbashira Festival took place on last few days of my travels, and was the big event the entire trip had been planned around.
The festival takes place every 7 years. Huge tree trunks that will be used to rebuild the local shrine are dragged from the forest to the town. The route, however, includes a treacherous steep slope. The locals rather than use the slope as a respite from dragging, have made it a test of bravery, machismo, and it would appear, sanity.
This is an important traditional festival in Japan, but it does come at a cost. People are often injured and fatalities do occur. I photographed the event on the Friday and Saturday. On the Sunday, while I was flying back to Okinawa, one of the participants was killed. I hope the photographs give some idea of the spectacle. The following series comes from Saturday afternoon.
Chanting and cheers before the decent.
Slow at first...
then picking up speed...
faster and faster...
unstoppable
Some fall, others hold on.
Team members surge to join the riders
Celebrations
Once again, chanting and cheers.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 
Great stuff! Worth every penny. Love the action, the energy and the mayhem. Good to catch up with you there too. Damon
Mayhem seems to be the perfect word for it!
Sir Wilson:
I am always impressed by your extensive activities. It may cost you a lot of money. Are you from an aritocratic family of Britain?
Though I handle mostly festivals of Tokyo. It crossed my mind going to Nagano for Onbashira Festival which is held only once in seven years. But I hesitated imagining that the place where your pictures were taken may not be closer to train stations – you have to walk a long distance.
Anyway, your pictures are always great!
I think the festival of Kishiwada in Osaka is as dangerous as Onbashira. What do you think about the valor the Japanese people want to show in the festivals?
HI Yumemakura,
The Onbashira Festival is held in Suwa, Nagano prefecture. It is very easy to get to the station from Tokyo, you just have to get the Ltd. Express Azusa train heading from Shinjuku to Matsumoto get off at Shimosuwa. It is a 45 to 60 minute walk from the station to where the event takes place. I think there are some special buses but I just walked.
However, spectators are quite a long way from the slope. I’ll put up some more images to show this, but many people were around half a kilometer from the slope. I had arranged to be in the press scaffolding with the TV cameras and press photographers. Which brings me on to…
Yes it does cost a lot of money, but no I am not from aristocracy. 🙂
As a freelance travel photographer I travel on my own dime (yen) and then hope to recoup the costs over my career by those images being used in magazines, travel guides, or sold as prints. (In the future, by also using digital it will also allow me to also submit images to news outlets on the day of the event.)
Kishiwada Danjiri Festival looks great. I will add it to my list of places to go!
Dear Chris,
I thank you for your mail about used Pentax gear. I check your Onbashira. OMG, the atmosphere is really, really breathtaking. Congratulation again, I am your fan.
Quang from Hanoi.
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