On June 20, 2025, the ancient "Bamboo Cutting Ceremony" ceremony, in which a green bamboo representing a giant snake is cut to ward off misfortune, was held at Kurama Temple in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City. On a clear day during the rainy season, about 600 worshippers, including local citizens and tourists, were fascinated by the spectacular swordplay of men dressed as warrior monks.
The name comes from a Heian period story in which Buen, the founder of Kurama Temple, used his spiritual powers to slay a giant snake. It is said that from the mid-Edo period onwards, the Omi and Tamba groups competed to see who could cut bamboo the fastest, and the outcome of the competition was used to predict the future of the harvest.
To the sound of a conch shell, the warrior monks appeared in front of the main hall and cut green bamboo to about four meters in length as a "bamboo leveling" event. Following the Bugaku dance, the Shigaraki Koji executive raised his fan, which signaled the start of the "cutting contest." The warrior monks, divided into pairs, swung their mountain knives down in unison, cutting down the bamboo one by one.
The Tamba group finished first, and ran out into the temple grounds declaring their victory for the second year in a row, to cheers and applause from the worshippers watching with parasols in hand.
