It’s hard to see on the smaller images but this crop shows just how dangerous this event is. The rear of the tree is off the ground and there are several limbs and at least one head near the rapidly closing gap between trunk and ground.

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.

Twenty minutes west of Beppu is Mount Takasaki National Park. The park is famous for the group of wild monkeys that live on the mountain.  Throughout the day, park staff feed the monkeys barley so visitors are literally surrounded by wild monkeys. Unlike at a zoo, when the visitors leave and the feeding stops, the animals can retreat to the depths of the forest.