Lance Henderstein

In 2015, I was invited by Wakayama Prefecture to photograph the Oto Matsuri, one of Japan's two great fire festivals. Oto Matsuri has been celebrated here for over 1,400 years and marks the joining of Buddhism and Shintoism in Japan.

Each February, 2,000 men gather in Shingu, Wakayama. They dress in white, purify themselves in the sea, visit the three ancient temples, then hurtle themselves down a treacherous mountain path lit only by torches burning with a sacred fire. From the town below it is said to look like a fiery dragon descending the mountainside.