History and Details for enjoying Akita Kanto Festival

the Akita Kanto Festival

Summer is the season for festivals. So one summer I went to visit the three biggest festivals in Tohoku. I’d like to share my experience going to one of them, the Akita Kanto Festival. I’d like to show what kind of festival it is, its shocking content and my experiences.

Click here to find out more about the remaining two of the three biggest festivals in Tohoku, the Aomori Nebuta Festival and the Sendai Tanabata Festival.



What is the Akita Kanto Festival?

The outline of the Akita Kanto Festival is as follows:

Dates: 8/3 – 8/6

Location: Kanto Boulevard, Akita City, Akita Prefecture

Content: Watch the Kanto festival being supported

Fee: Free (paid seats available)

First of all, what is a Kanto? It is a pole with a lantern attached to it.

Kanto

The Kanto Festival takes place when the candles on these lanterns are lit. At night, around 280 Kanto lanterns are lit up along the main street. With around 10,000 lit candles, the spectacle is spectacular, beautiful and mysterious.


The Meaning and History of the Kanto Festival

The Kanto as a whole represent ears of rice, and the lanterns represent straw rice sacks, and they are meant to pray for a good harvest. Originating from the Tanabata event called Neburi Nagashi, where people write their wishes on bamboo and let it float down the river to wash away summer sleepiness and bad luck. Kanto were already in existence in the late 18th century.

Every year on the day before the festival on August 3rd, people receive their Gohei (paper attached to the top of the Kanto on the left in the photo above) at Hachiman Akita Shrine in Senbaku Park, and on August 7th, representatives of each group float the gohei over Kariho Bridge, ending the festival. Even outside the festival period, there are also Kanto exhibitions and demonstrations (dates and times must be confirmed) at the Neburi Nagashi Hall.

For information on tourism in Akita City, please see here.


About Kanto

Holding a Kanto

The amazing thing about the Akita Kanto Festival is that each lantern is carried by one person. There are four main sizes of lanterns, the largest of which is 12m in height and weighs 50kg. The sizes are as follows: 

 Length(cm)Weight (kg)Number of lanternsLantern size (cm)Age (approximate)
Owaka12 50 46 64×45 From high school students
Chuwaka30 46 48×36 From junior high school students
Showaka15 24 48×36 From upper elementary school
Youwaka24 30×21 As early as kindergarten

When the height is added using a tool called Tsugitake, the lanterns can reach a maximum height of 20m. Additionally, the lanterns feature the town crest of each town and have lucky charms painted on them.


Amazing Kanto Performances

The Kanto Festival is not just about enjoying the beauty of the lanterns shining at night. In fact, there is only one person who holds the Kanto (the “Sashite”), and they hold it in one hand. There are five different ways to hold the Kanto, and the difficulty level varies depending on the technique.

Nagashi

This is a technique used when inserting bamboo splices to add height to the Kanto. Two people lift the Kanto that is placed on the ground, and one person holds the Kanto high with one hand while the other inserts the bamboo splice at the very bottom of the pole. At this time, the person holding the Kanto (the inserter) holds the pole between their thumb and index finger.


Hirate

This is a technique in which they place a Kanto pole on the palm of the hand and hold it high. As a child, you used to play a game where you hold an umbrella in your palm to keep it from falling over, but now they do the same thing with a Kanto pole that weighs up to 50kg.


Hitai

The performers balance the Kanto pole on their forehead.


Kata

This technique involves placing the Kanto on their shoulders and is easier to master than other techniques, making it easy to learn.


Koshi

This is the most difficult technique, carrying the Kanto on the waist, and requires a great deal of practice. Even more experienced performers can hold an umbrella or fan in this position.


Skill competition

Skill competition

The main event of the Kanto Festival takes place at night, but a skill competition is held during the day. It takes place at Area Nakaichi Nigiwai Square in front of the Akita Prefectural Museum of Art from August 4th to 6th. Participants show off their skills within a circle six meters in diameter, competing on beauty, balance, and more. There are team and individual competitions, and the team competition has both prescribed and free performances. There is also a music competition, where participants compete on the sound and rhythm of flutes and drums. This is also open to the public.


I actually went to the festival

Skill competition

From here, I’ll share what it was like when I actually went to the festival. I arrived at Akita Station in the afternoon and first headed to the skill competition. I was overwhelmed by the power of the giant Kanto poles which could be seen from afar. Seeing it for myself, I felt that holding up something so large by yourself was even more impressive than it had seemed in photos. It was amazing to see them perform different techniques one after another accompanied by the music. As it was held outside, there was wind and it was difficult to maintain balance, so sometimes they fell over. I imagined it must have been quite difficult to perform such great skills in the blazing heat and dazzling sunlight, but there was something about them that drew in the viewers.


Paid seats are recommended

The main event of the Akita Kanto Festival is in the evening. I reserved a paid seat in advance, and I’m glad I did. The festival takes place on Kanto Boulevard, a straight road designed with the festival in mind. It’s free to watch from the sidewalk, but the sidewalk is narrow so it’s not clear whether you’ll be able to secure a spot. Also, there are constant people coming and going, so it can be difficult to find a comfortable view. Locals who have come to watch the festival many times will probably be used to finding a spot, but for tourists from far away, it’s recommended to get a paid seat so you can enjoy the view at your leisure.

Details about reservations can be found on the Kanto Festival’s website.

https://www.kantou.gr.jp


Scene from the venue

The paid seats were located right in the middle of the main street.

Paid seats

The position and height of the seats vary depending on the rank of the seat. I chose to sit at the farthest spot, so I got the cheapest bench. It depends on whether it’s a weekend or a weekday. There were some empty seats, so it didn’t feel cramped.

There were restrooms in many places, so it was not difficult to find one. However, the restaurants were extremely crowded. I went to an Inaniwa udon restaurant around 5 pm to have an early meal, but it was already full and I had to wait for a table. What was helpful was the presence of food stalls. There were many festival stalls selling things like takoyaki and yakisoba, and there was also a food stall village where you could eat.

Food stall village


There was also an Inaniwa udon restaurant here that I had given up on earlier, and I was able to eat some right away.

Inaniwa udon

Even at the stall, the food was surprisingly delicious, so don’t underestimate it!!


It’s time to enter

Entrance to the Kanto Festival

Traffic restrictions begin at 6h30 pm and entry begins just before 7 pm. I chose a seat far away because it was closer to the entrance. The performers entered the festival carrying lanterns accompanied by musical accompaniment.

Nagashibayashi (traditional Japanese music)

There are two types of music: Nagashi-bayashi, which is played while moving, and Hon-bayashi, which is played during the Kanto performance. The group that enters at the front goes to the end of the street, then makes a U-turn and enters the opposite lane to return to the entrance. Eventually, they form a group that surrounds the paid seats.


Beautiful but scary Kanto

Kanto Festival: Night Performance

After a speech from the mayor, the festival finally began. The lit Kanto poles were lifted up and each one was supported by a hand. It was an impressive sight to see around 280 kanto poles, totalling around 10,000 lanterns, lit up all over the street. Just like what I saw during the day, they performed their amazing skills right before our eyes. Another benefit of the paid seats is that we can get a closer view than during the day. As the Kanto poles swayed to the festival calls of “Dokkoisho, dokkoisho,” it looked almost like a rice field.

However, because of the wind it is difficult to maintain balance and they can fall over. The problem is that they fall towards the audience. Ropes are strung on both sides of the street to catch them if they fall. At first I thought they were electric wires, but it seems that on this main street the electric wires are strung underground to prevent them from falling over, and the ropes are only strung up during festivals. This reduces the risk of the kanto falling over into the audience, but the scary thing is that if they are about to fall over, the hand that holds them will lunge into the audience to regain balance. It’s just like when a player lunges into the bench in pursuit of the ball during a volleyball match. That’s why the front row of the bench seats is dangerous.


Won’t the candle cause the lantern to burn?

Kanto Festival

One concern here is whether the candle flame will burn the lantern. In fact, the lantern is designed to allow wind in if it tilts too far, so the fire goes out if it falls over. When watching the performance, we can see that the candle flame goes out if the performer loses balance, so the light of the Kanto decreases over time. If the Kanto is knocked over, all the flames go out so they have to be turned back on, but otherwise, I’ve come to think that the performers who keep the Kanto bright until the end are really skilled.

Incidentally, candles are handed out at the end as amulets for safe delivery. It is said that the shorter the candle, the shorter the time until delivery, so it seemed that short candles meant that they were able to do it well with very few of them being put out.


What I learned from repeating the process

The Kanto performance is about 20 minutes long and is performed three times. After each performance, the performers rotate around the paid seating area like a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. This means that you will see the performance three times, but each time with a different group. The second time isn’t as exciting as the first, but it’s the children who are the center of attention.

Children's Kanto Performances

I was surprised that special education in Kanto begins at such a young age. The Kanto are the smallest in size, and if they start to fall over the adults around them support them. The children took turns doing this. The children who were not successful went back to the back of the line and cried in frustration, and it seemed to me that this is where not only their skills but also their passion for the festival are developed.

The third group was not made up of children but were again watching an adult performance, and some of the performers were carrying fans and umbrellas while carrying Kanto poles on their waists.

Waist + Umbrella

Even my eyes, having become accustomed to the already difficult advanced techniques from the hips, were amazed!! I was impressed that this was the skill of an expert. This was the second time I had seen a child perform, so it was fun to see how amazing it can be when perfected.


Interaction Time

Interaction Time

After the three performances, the performers left their seats to have their photograph taken with the Kanto poles and even had the chance to hold one. I also had my photograph taken as a souvenir.


Summary

That concludes the Akita Kanto Festival. As one of the three major festivals in the Tohoku region, it was incredibly impressive and I’m glad I went to see it. I thought it would simply be a festival to look at the pretty lanterns lit up at night, but it was an exciting parade of amazing techniques. If you go to Akita in the summer, be sure to go during the festival.


For more travel information, click here!

コメント