Akita’s Kanto Matsuri

The second stop of my summer matsuri vacation was the city of Akita, known for its delicious rice, beautiful women, and the Akita Inu dog breed. (Hachiko, the legendary canine who waited for its dead master at Shibuya train station for a decade, was an Akita Inu.)

Akita’s Kanto Matsuri （竿灯まつり）, which draws 1.3 million visitors annually, involves adult men balancing huge bamboo frames – called kanto – through various means during an evening parade. The most basic move is balancing the pole on the palm, but the more skillful performers would try doing so on their shoulders, their heads, or even their hips.

Historical records show that the Kanto festival started at least 250 years ago, its main purpose to pray for a good rice harvest. The practice of balancing the kanto was said to have started as a means to stave off the lethargy caused by the summer heat.

One of the many groups at the Kanto festival. The biggest kanto are 12m high and weigh 50kg, with about 46 paper lanterns attached.

Shooting this festival was a major challenge for me. Firstly, framing was difficult because the performers are constantly on the move. Secondly, it’s difficult to capture the right background because everyone else is also moving. Thirdly, as the people with the kanto do their balancing act, their team members move around them, often preventing me from getting a clear shot. Lastly, there generally isn’t much variation – the moves don’t differ that much after a while…

Aomori Nebuta 2011 (3): I’ll be back!

Although staying four nights in Hirosaki seemed like a long time for a small city, it turned out to be too short a stay. We’d spent one evening at the Hirosaki Neputa, two at the Aomori Nebuta, and one at the Goshogawara fireworks festival.

While the fireworks were dazzling and the Neputa an interesting variation of a float parade, the Nebuta had arguably the most to offer, and regrettably we missed the grand finale, on August 7.

Besides the evening parades from August 2 to 6, the last day of the matsuri is quite different – there is a parade featuring the floats in the day, and in the evening, the floats will parade on the waters of Aomori Bay, against the backdrop of a fireworks display. I was gutted that I couldn’t be there. (By then, we had to be in Sendai, our final stop)

And as a prelude to the Nebuta, there is also a fireworks event at Asamushi Onsen (浅虫温泉), a hot springs town just about 30-45 minutes away from Aomori City. Just imagine soaking in an outdoor onsen while viewing fireworks!

Anyway here are some more pictures taken at the Nebuta. Once again, all on Kodak Portra 800 film, Nikon F6 with the AIS 35mm f1.4 lens and SB900 flash.

“We’re going to the matsuri!”

Aomori Nebuta 2011 (2): After the clock strikes 7.10pm…

The main draw of the Nebuta Matsuri is the nightly two-hour parade. Each participating group usually consists of a float accompanied by haneto dancers chanting "Rase-rase-rasera!" and moving in unison to the beat of a marching band.

Each float, which is pushed manually and lit up from within, may measure up to 5m high, 9m long and 7m wide, and weigh up to four tonnes. Costing up to 4 million yen each to build, they usually depict scenes from Japanese and Chinese mythology.

As the sun begins to set, the performers line up on the four major roads closed off for the parade. The roads form a ring, and within the two hours, the performers will cover all four roads and get back to where they started. The audience members, lining both sides of the roads, wait in anticipation as they guzzle their beer and lap up their take-away sushi.

Once the clock strikes 7.10pm (don’t ask me why), the procession begins!

The photos were taken on August 2 and 4. I used my Nikon F6 paired with the Nikkor AIS 35mm f1.4 or AFS 24mm f1.4, on Kodak Portra 800 film.

RASE RASE RASERA! RASERAAA! RASERAAA!

Aomori Nebuta 2011 (1): People watching

It was my trip to Aomori last year that first piqued my interest in returning to the prefecture again, for its most famous celebration of the year. So perhaps it was most befitting that I started my jaunt through the Tohoku Sandai Matsuri (東北三大祭り), or Tohoku’s three big festivals, with Aomori's Nebuta Matsuri (ねぶた祭り).

It is also the earliest of the three famous festivals to start (Aug 2), and stretches all the way till Aug 7. This makes it the longest of the three.

While the exact origin of the Nebuta Matsuri is unclear, some historical records say a variation of it had already taken place in the Kyoho era (1716 to 1735) of the Tokugawa period. It was much simpler then, however, and involved a parade of people carrying lanterns.

The festival now is far more elaborate now, and attracts over 3 million visitors a year from all over Japan and overseas. Here’s a look at some of the people who were there on Aug 4, 2011.

With the roads closed off for the festival, you’re free to sit anywhere! These girls are dressed in the haneto costume, which is worn by performers as well as those who wish to join in the parade.