Revelers spin the portable shrine in front of the Agatajinja shrine in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, on June 6. (Yoshiko Sato)

UJI, Kyoto Prefecture--The Agata Matsuri festival, famous as a “unique festival in a dark night,” kicked off here just before midnight on June 5, going on to usher in the wee hours.

The climax of the event was its portable shrine procession which began at Agatajinja shrine and another location.

Men clad in traditional summer festival outfits chanted loudly, hoisting the wooden shrine above their heads.

A highlight of their performance was when they brought the shrine bearing a large sphere made of sacred strips of white paper tied together to knee level and began running in circles with it.

The men spun it dynamically on the road near the shrine and roughly shoved it back and forth. Spectators at the side of the road gasped in surprise and broke into rounds of applause.