At parks, at private homes and at schools, we used to see fallen leaves being burned everywhere at this time in winter. I had a strange, somewhat scary experience in my junior high school days.
I happened to be alone when burning raked leaves in the schoolyard at my junior high school. Suddenly, the smoke that had been going straight up started to move toward me like a living creature. I quickly fled to a different position. But the smoke changed direction again.
At that time, I thought about submitting an essay about this experience to an occult magazine. However, when I read an explanation by weather essayist Atsushi Kurashima, I felt I'd been right not to make a submission. Kurashima said the phenomenon has already been explained scientifically.
Air flows strongly into a bonfire from the surrounding area. If a person stands by the fire, the stream of air weakens at that location, so smoke starts to flow in a direction where the air resistance is low. Come to think of it, the smoke at barbecues and from incense sticks moves this way. In the first three days of the New Year, many people visit censers on the grounds of shrines and temples. If smoke wafts onto a person, it's said their wish will come true.
If smoke changes direction toward you while you're praying for the safety or health of your family or to pass an examination, you may feel something mystical. Science can be forgotten for a while.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
