Location: Shingu, south east Japan
Description: For one night in the year, the ordered, structured country of Japan allows itself to descend into chaos. The Oto Matsuri fire festival marks the new lunar year and washes away the sins of the old one. This takes physical shape during the day, as young men in their underwear stand on the seashore and let the tide wash over them.
At night, 2000 local men assemble at the Kamikura, a shrine below a sacred rock. They have brought torches painted with their wishes for the new year, which they light from a ceremonial torch.
The sake is in full flow and fights are already breaking out before they are penned up behind the temple gate. The gatekeepers draw back and a great rush of humanity races down the stairs, trampling each other in their eagerness to reach the bottom first. This annual night of mayhem harks back to the chaos before the creation of the world" Watch, here, thanks to BBC!
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