この前の日曜日に、古平町で撮影した「天狗の火渡り」。

火渡りというか、燃え盛る炎に天狗が突っ込んでいくという、とてもアメージングで、とてもクレイジーなお祭り。#古平町#天狗の火渡り#ファインダー越しの私の世界 pic.twitter.com/l1sjrTHeya

— laufen 克 (@katuka2) September 12, 2017

The festival—held at the Ebisu Shrine in the town of Furubira—features a tengu, among others, running through a bonfire of towering flames. Tengu, if you’re not familiar, are creatures found in Japanese folklore, usually localized as “goblins” in English, and often depicted with a red face and distinctively long nose.

The towering flames involved at this fire walk in Hokkaido certainly make for a more impressive spectacle, which was captured and shared on Twitter by musician and photographer Katsu, who goes by @katuka2 online.

天狗の火渡りの写真ですが、約1日で20000RT、35000いいね越えました…！

バズったの初めてだから、素直に嬉しいです。
ありがとうございます＾＾

こちらはアザーカットです。
炎がまるで生きているようだよ。#古平町#天狗の火渡り pic.twitter.com/oOW3LDT8uj

— laufen 克 (@katuka2) September 13, 2017

In the photos, Katsu captures the intense contrast between the dark shadows of the night against the bright blazing flames, as the masked fire walker emerges from the fire in a hellish scene.

“It’s more like ‘an amazing, crazy festival where a tengu leaps into a blazing inferno’ than a ‘fire walk'” Katsu says of the event.

天狗の火渡りもすごいのですが、その後に行われる獅子舞の火渡り？は、ある意味さらにすごかったりします。

天狗よりも軽装のまま、炎に飛び込んで行きます。

しかも操っているのは少年…。#古平町#天狗の火渡り pic.twitter.com/Xb4oLmETwn

— laufen 克 (@katuka2) September 14, 2017

After the tengu's walk came the shishi-mai (lion’s dance), which produced an even more magical display of flying sparks. Perhaps most impressive, though, is the fact that the ones running the lion costume through the flames were young boys.