Worshipers careen down slope in Shinto ritual

A tree-falling ritual, a climax in the famed Onbashira Shinto festival held every six years, began in the Suwa district in Nagano Prefecture on Sunday.A giant fir tree log, measuring about 17 meters and weighing about 10 tons, slid down a steep hillside slope with many male worshipers clinging on, in the "kiotoshi" ceremony.

諏訪大社の御柱祭　「木落し」「川越し」始まる
A total of eight logs will be used in the two-day kiotoshi ritual. They will be erected at the four corners of two main buildings at the Kamisha branches of the Suwa Taisha shrine next month.