How Japanese men risk lives in ancient log-riding festival

  • 8 years ago
Thousands of people attended an ancient Japanese festival in which log riders storm down a hill on a tree trunk.

The Onbashira (Sacred Pillars) festival dates back more than 1,200 years and is held every six years in the in Suwa region of Nagano prefecture. It involves replacing the sacred pillars at a shrine in Suwa.

First, trees are felled, and then huge logs are pulled down steep hills and across a river, with men riding on them. It is common for log-riders to fall and sometimes even be crushed to death during the race.

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