Neburi Nagashi Kan

The Tohoku area in the north of Japan is renowned for its impressive summer festivals attracting millions of viewers every year. Akita City is one of their favorite destinations thanks to its nightly lantern 🏮 festival called Akita Kanto Matsuri, that fascinated 1,1 million visitors in 2023 alone. This event, listed as one of Japan’s Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO, is held during 4 days: between August 3 to 6. When visiting at another time of the year, we recommend going to the Neburi Nagashi Kan Museum (Akita City Folk Performing Arts Heritage Center) dedicated to the festival and generally speaking to Akita’s traditions and arts.

Akita Kanto Matsuri, the pole-lantern festival

The museum’s entrance is decorated with a pole at the tip of which are hanging several dozen of paper lanterns. Participants of the festival hoist such bamboo mast called kanto (竿燈) to parade through the streets of the city. The kanto hoisting contest is a true demonstration of strength and skills and the matsuri’s main attraction. Several groups challenge each others during the 3 days of the tournament (Kanto Myogikai) that is also opened to the youngest challengers. Then at nightfall, the pole parade continues without the competition in a more laid-back atmosphere.

The museum displays all different types of existing poles, of various sizes and weights, some suitable to children, or teenagers and adults. A pole can be up to 12 meters long and weight up to 50kg. Visitors can try hoisting a bamboo pole, starting by a light one, and try the various lifting techniques used in the festival: on the shoulder, on the lower back, on the hand or on the forehead.

The lanterns, hanging in several rows at the tip of the pole, are all light-up with small candles. The lanterns are not affixed and move with the holder’s and the wind’s movements, so as to limit the risk of a fire 🔥. The lanterns’ weight might cause the bamboo pole to naturally bend, which is an impressive sight. On a side note, a Kanto Matsuri delegation paraded at the foot of Paris’ Eiffel Tower in 1997, at the occasion of an event to celebrate the inauguration of the local Japanese Cultural Center (Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris).

The Akita matsuri exhibition also allows to try playing the taiko drum, used during the parades to encourage the kanto holders, and to learn more about the regional Kanko Matsuri fighting festival.

The old Kaneko House, former residence of a merchant family

The museum’s 1rst building is of a modern architectural style, but it is also spreading in a more ancient construction: an authentic kura warehouse attached to a merchant house of the end of the Edo period (1603 - 1868).

The exhibition is showing the former residence as if it was still in use, as a clothing store managed by the Kaneko family, to relive the traditional atmosphere of the old shopping districts (tomachi) of the Japanese feudal cities.