Onbashira Festival Takes Place

SHIMOSUWA, JAPAN - APRIL 09: Participants prepare to ride a huge log slide down a hill during the Onbashira Festival on April 9, 2010 in Shimosuwa, Japan. The septennial festival has taken place for the past 1,200 years. The huge timbers are used as sacred pillars for the Suwa Grand Shrines of Kamisha and Shimosha, which are re-built in Suwa City. The lumbers' journey down the mountainside often results in injury and fatalities as participants try to ride the timbers as they slide down the mountain. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)