Shorei-matsuri, a bonfire on Mt. Daimonji in Kyoto

This oban woodblock print depicts the Gozan no Okuribi festival on Mount Daimonji, the summer event when enormous bonfires in the shape of kanji characters are lit on the mountains surrounding Kyoto. The Daimonji fire, forming the character "dai" (great), is the most famous of the five fires and marks the end of the Obon festival when ancestral spirits are guided back to the afterworld. Kamei captures the dramatic sight of the burning character blazing against the dark mountain on the evening of August 16th, with the city of Kyoto spread below. The night-fire subject requires the woodblock printer to render both the intense orange of the flames and the surrounding darkness, creating a composition built on the contrast between the shaped fire and the formless night. The print documents one of Kyoto's most ancient and visually spectacular ritual events.