Hirosaki Neputa (2/3)

Tohoku is an area in the northern Japan, consisting of Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Yamagata, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. And each prefecture has a famous festival. My hometown Sendai, Miyagi has the 'Sendai Tanabata (Star Festival)', as a traditional event that dates back to the era of Date Masamune (1567-1636), the first lord of Sendai Domain. During the festival, the city centre is filled with colourful decorations. This festival is one of the most peaceful festivals among those 6 prefectures I think. Because decorations aren't mobile, just hanging above the shopping streets and so on, and people walk under the paper decorations.

I originally come from Tohoku, but I've never seen much of other Tohoku festivals. So when we decided to travel in Aomori, I was excited about their gigantic floats of their Nebuta/Neputa festival. There are major three float festivals in Aomori prefecture; Aomori Nebuta, Hirosaki Neputa and Goshogawara Tachineputa. Each "Nebuta/Neputa" is a slightly different shape, but refers to the float of a brave warrior-figure which is carried through the city centre. It was autumn, but some floats are displayed at some facilities.

We visited the "Neputa Village" which is a museum about this festival and also introduces Aomori's cultures. We could enjoy seeing the Neputa floats and local handcrafts, listening to drum and shamisen music, playing with old-fashioned toys and tasting food. There is also a Japanese garden as well. The Neputa floats were massive. They were amazingly big. It was good that the staff members explained about Neputa floats in English too:) The biggest one is over nine metres, and will parade through the town dodging electric wire and signboard.