Yunishigawa Onsen Kamakura Festival

Candle flames inside little snow huts. In the mountain hot-spring village of Yunishigawa, Tochigi, the Kamakura Festival runs from January 29 to February 28 — but the rows of miniature kamakura along the river are lit only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 5:30 to 9. The village is twenty-five minutes by bus from Yunishigawa-Onsen Station. Steam from the baths, snow on the banks, small fires in between: winter reduced to three quiet elements. Midweek, the snow is left alone to sleep.