The Akita Kanto matsuri lantern festival 秋田 竿燈まつり
The Akita Festival of Lights
Every summer, the Akita Kanto matsuri lantern festival is a great popular festival in the region. Thousands of people participate and even more attend this fabulous spectacle which lights up the streets of Akita!
This festival takes place every year from August 3 to 6 in the streets of Akita. The origin wants that this festival is given to wish a good harvest of rice to come, in September. And this has been practiced since the middle of the 18th century, around 1750.
The Akita Kanto matsuri is one of the three biggest summer festivals in the Tohoku region, along with the Nebuta Matsuri in Aomori and the Tanabata Matsuri in Sendai. When you have attended these three festivals, you can say that you know the best of the most traditional and festive atmospheres of northern Japan.
Each summer in Akita, more than a million visitors flock to attend the festival.
Balance games
The Akita Kanto matsuri consists of carrying and balancing a large bamboo pole on which are hung " chochin " lanterns evoking the shape of a straw bag for "tawara" rice, a traditional technique of conservation which is not practiced hardly any more nowadays, except in a few places in Tohoku. In each lantern is placed a candle, which shines in the night.
The general shape evokes a rice plant ready to be harvested, which is called "inaho". On the lanterns appears a symbol or "my" belonging to a great historical family.
Children and only men try to carry these poles to the rows of lanterns, ranging from 5 meters to 12 meters for the largest, for a weight of 5 to 50 kg with 24 or 46 lanterns.
They take turns passing the pole to keep it balanced either on the hand, the forehead, the shoulder, or the lower back while arching.
The difficulty increases for each position, and when one of them manages to balance his pole on his lower back, bending it as much as possible, like a heavy ear of rice, with a fan in one hand, the public wildly applauds this formidable feat!
- Read also: The Mitama Matsuri Lantern Festival
The perch bends like an ear of rice
Jerome Laborde
Group of children during the big parade
Jerome Laborde
Dokkoisho!
The most beautiful of this show takes place when night falls on Akita, from 6:50 pm to 8:50 pm, for the grand parade in the main avenue 800 meters long, on each side of a central reservation where bleachers are arranged (paid seats to be reserved). Freely, you can sit on the sidewalk to enjoy the same show, without forgetting to buy something to try the regional specialties in the many stalls of street vendors.
You don't have to move... as the show advances several times in front of you to allow you to appreciate different shows from all parts of the city, schools, or businesses. Whether they are children, some of whom are future champions who have already mastered the techniques incredibly, or experienced adults, they will dazzle you with their strength and skill.
In the night, some 10,000 lanterns illuminate the main avenue, to the sound of traditional music, Japanese taïko drum and flute, and sentences "dokkoisho! " which rise joyfully, taken up by the crowd to mark the efforts made by the participants.
During the day there is also a show. Between 9 am and 3 pm, competitions see groups compete where each shows their strength, their skill, and the beauty of each pole filled with beautiful paper lanterns.
- Read also: The Nagasaki Lantern Festival
Address, timetable & access
Address
Timetable
From Tokyo Station, approximately 4 hrs by train with the Akita ShinkansenPrice
freeAccess
August 3-6
