From 1 to 13 March, ten torches 6–8 metres long and weighing 40 kg go up onto the balcony at 19:00.
Every morning from 1 to 14 March, the novices make the Nigatsu-dō torches by hand, pushing pine branches into bamboo canes wrapped in cedar leaves; in the evening ten of them, 6–8 metres and about 40 kg, go up onto the balcony at 19:00, except on 12 March, when there are eleven (8 metres, 70 kg) at 19:30. On the 14th, the close of the rite, they parade in a horizontal line at 18:30.
The Nigatsu-dō is a building in the Tōdai-ji complex, 428 metres from the Nandaimon gate. Every year it hosts the Shuni-e (修二会), literally ‘rite of the second month’, more commonly known as Omizutori, ‘taking the water’.
🚉 Kintetsu Nara · 23 min walk
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