Living day to day in the monotone of winter, I sometimes crave for colors: green fields, pink flowers and the blue sky in place of the monotonous and endless white of the snow, the grayish-brown of half sleeping trees and dreary gray of thick clouds. Since Mother Nature's natural colors won't resurface at least three months from now, I visited a place where I could enjoy colors which also brought me back to summer: "Wa Rasse", The Museum of Aomori's Nebuta Festival.
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| The entrance hall flavored with festival |
Nebuta Festival is one of the most famous summer festivals in Japan. It is held for six days: August 2nd -7th. If you visit Aomori city during that time, you can relish in the real pleasure of this festival. They say that about three million tourists visit this northernmost tip of the main island of Japan to enjoy the festival: the amazingly colorful art.
For those who cannot be there during the period of the festival, The Museum of Aomori's Nebuta Festival presents the ambiance of the festival throughout the seasons. The museum is near the Aomori train station and the Tohoku Shinkansen (a Japanese bullet train) easily transports you from anywhere in Japan to this exciting destination.
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| The float |
Nebuta is a kind of float made of colorful pieces of paper that are supported by a frame made of wood and wires. Illuminating this gorgeous float are hundreds of electric bulbs. Its size is 9 x 7 x 5 meters including the cart, and the weight is around 4 tons. A team of 20 people (I am not so sure about the number, it could be more) skillfully maneuver the float through the streets of Aomori. The multiple layers of process that are required to complete this immense art are truly beyond my imagination.
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| The Head |
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| The Hand |
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| The Leg |
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| Fires |
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| Waves |
Despite the fact that the air outside the museum is freezing, the season inside the museum is always summer. As I stood and marveled at the floats, I recalled the heat of summer while I was looking at these passionate colors, and felt the urge to jump directly to the festival season.
[Information]
If you are interested in the history of this festival, check the site below. Sorry, but I am not cut out for explaining all of the details. :)
