This time I will be covering one of the 3 biggest festivals in Tohoku, the Aomori Nebuta Festival. The Aomori Nebuta -as the name gives away- is held in the Aomori prefecture and takes place for almost a week in the sweltering heat of Summer. It attracts a large number of tourists to the region every year.
I was lucky enough to take part in the festival myself. Anyone can take part in the festival procession as long as you are dressed in a the traditional dress called a haneto. The haneto consists of a coloured cotton gown that pokes out from under a short white yukata decorated with script and characters from traditional tales. Coloured sashes are tied around the waist, and over the shoulders holding the yukata sleeves up. Traditional shoes called zori paired with tabi socks, a flowery hat (optional), and bunches of bells are fastened at various points top-off the look. Decorated towels are also often worn to soak up the sweat! The haneto can be bought in many shops around Aomori and if you don't want to fork out the money to buy one, they can be rented too!
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| Just couldn't resist a Nebuta Festival selfie |
The Aomori Nebuta Festival is centered around the Nebuta floats which are paraded around the city from the 2nd to the 7th of August with kid's floats only being shown during the first few days and the larger floats usually only shown during the second half. The floats are based on Japanese tales, mythology or kabuki and are made out of wire and Japanese washi paper which is then painted bright colours. The structure used to be made of bamboo and were lit up using candles instead of the electronic lights used today. The floats usually weigh up to 4 tonnes with a height of up to 5 metres, and a width of 9.
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| Nebuta Float |
I was able to take part in the final night procession on the 6th of August where the festival was beginning to reach its climax, and the usually quiet city of Aomori is alive with excitement and clangor. It takes a team of men orchestrated by a fan-bearing-conductor to move the behemoths which are accompanied by the haneto dancers and a band called the hayashi. The hayashi include flautists, cymbol players and drummers.
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| You can see some of the men controlling the float. Another set of men stand at the back. |
Joining the throngs that are the haneto dancers you can really feel the energy. The haneto dance a two-step jig in time with a chant of "rassera rassera" that sets the bells attached to their clothes ringing in unison.
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| Take a look at those fancy bonnets! |
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| These poor boys had to lug carts of ice-water around for the whole procession |
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| Even babies can join! |
For those who's idea of fun isn't getting hot and sweaty and waking up with muscle pain the next morning there are plenty of places to watch the parade from the sidelines, either sitting or standing. There are also plenty of stalls selling the typical Japanese festival fare such as shaved ice and yakisoba noodles to fill your gullet with too!
The Nebuta are judged on the three components of the float, dancers, and the band with prizes awarded to the best units. Those which win prizes are then shown during the procession on the 7th where they are carried onto sea by boat, and paraded in front of those watching from land against a backdrop of spectacular fireworks.
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| Float aboard a boat during the final procession |
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| This guy kept having to be told by the policeman to move... he unfortunately features in quite a lot of the photos that I took that evening |
Interestingly, this year a set of Star Wars floats were created however they were only allowed to take part in the opening ceremony, the eve before the festival. Instead of being allowed to join the procession they were shown at the Wa Rasse Museum in Aomori city until the final day of the festival.
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| Afternoon performance on the day of the final procession |
