I spend the day with Hiromi in Nara yesterday to see the Tokae, a lantern festival held in August for about one week. During this festival, tens of thousands of lanterns are lit to help lead the spirits of peoples ancestors back to their families. As this was her 5th consecutive year going, Hiromi kindly drive me there and showed me around.

We arrived mid-afternoon, and though the day was still very hot, the humidity was thankfully low. We started by walking through town and looking at a few shops and having a late lunch before hitting up the park. Unlike previous years, the deer which are usually everywhere were mostly absent, probably in the woods to escape the heat. As the sunset approached, we decided to wait for 7:00 when the lights are lit at a pond called Washichi.

At dusk, as the candles were lit, and the sky continued to get darker, we proceeded to tour around the park. The crowds were large but as evening continued, it got surprisingly cool outside, making for a pleasant evening. Once the sky was fully dark, and the only light was that of the thousands of candles, the atmosphere was truly something else.

It doesn’t come across well in the pictures but it was as sight to behold. It’s times like that I wish I had a decent camera to be able to better capture it, but my trusty cell phone was able to get a few decent pictures. If anyone finds themselves in this area in August, I would definitely recommend taking a look. It’s spectacular.

Full photo gallery is available here.