Daisen is the highest mountain in the Chugoku region — a dormant volcano with a shape that has led it to be called the Fuji of the San'in coast, visible from the Sea of Japan on clear days. The mountain has been sacred since at least the eighth century, when a major temple complex was established on its slopes. The fire festival in August is part of this long relationship between the mountain and the communities at its base. Bonfires along the approach to Daisen-ji Temple and torchlight processions at the mountain's foot are the visible elements. The invisible element is the context — a mountain that has been receiving these offerings for over a thousand years, in a landscape where the sea is visible to the north and the mountain fills the southern sky. The combination available on the evening of the fire festival is specific to this part of Tottori: the sun sets over the Sea of Japan to the west, the mountain darkens against the evening sky, and then the fires begin on its slopes. The sequence takes several hours and rewards waiting for each part of it.