Daimonji and Ginkaku-ji

Yoshihisa died in battle in 1489 at the age of twenty-four. Yoshimasa, grieving for his son, wished to offer prayers for the repose of his spirit, and at the suggestion of Osen Keisan instructed his retainer Haga Kamon no Kami to form the character dai ("great") out of white cloth on the slope of Nyoigatake during the Bon celebration for the dead that year. Looking at the mountain from Tôgudô, Osen Keisan charted the outlines of the character and had a fire ditch dug into the mountain in the appropriate shape. On August 16, the ditches, filled with pine kindling, were lit simultaneously to send Yoshihisa's spirit on its way. This is the origin of the custom of the bonfire in the shape of the character dai (Daimonji no okuribi) that lights up the evening sky in Kyoto every August 16 to this day.