🎨 Kyoto's Daimonji bonfires
Where: Mount Daimonji, Kyoto
📅 On This Day: August 16
August 16: Kyoto's Daimonji bonfires. At 8 pm on 16 August, a giant fiery 大 ('great') appears on a mountain around Kyoto, Japan. Then other hills light up one by one with more characters, a boat shape and a shrine-gate shape. The fires send off the spirits of ancestors who visited during the summer Obon holidays.
✨ More events on this day
- 1913 🎨 Tōhoku Imperial University in Sendai became the first university in Japan to admit women students in 1913, opening the door for girls to study there.
- 1930 🎨 Animator Ub Iwerks released 'Fiddlesticks' in 1930, starring Flip the Frog; it was the first cartoon made with both colour and sound.
- 1960 🧭 Joseph Kittinger jumped from a balloon more than 31 kilometres above New Mexico in 1960, setting skydiving records that lasted until 2012.
🧠 Question of the day
Which character is lit first?
- 大 (great)
- 山 (mountain)
- 火 (fire)
Show the answer
Answer: 大 (great)
Questions
What happened on August 16?
August 16: Kyoto's Daimonji bonfires. It happened in Mount Daimonji, Kyoto.
In the game, the "Today on Earth" panel shows this story on its day, with a question to answer and a place to fly to.