A wedding, welcomed with swinging fire.

The Tatsukuri rite at Aso Shrine runs seven days. The god Kunitatsu lodges each night in a different priestly household, with rites and kagura performed morning and evening. On the fourth day, priests walk some ten kilometres west to fetch the bride - a goddess in the form of a branch of oak. Along the way there are purifications, and a rite of dressing her. They reach the shrine at dusk.

What waits on the approach is the fire. Bundles of kaya grass are tied to ropes, lit, and swung - a metre long, fifteen kilos in weight. When dozens of people swing at once, rings of flame overlap in the dark. Inside that light, the marriage is taking place.

The seventh day falls on the day of the boar. Before the newly wed gods, villagers act out the whole process of growing rice, and the rite is done.

So: the gods marry before the planting. The order is fixed. When this fire has burned out, spring finally reaches Aso.