Summertime in Aomori - Nebuta Festival

JR-sponsered float at Nebuta Festival, 2013

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri (青森ねぶた祭り) is an exciting summer festival held in the first week of August. The yearly festival spans one week, which includes two grand fireworks displays, daytime float viewing, and above all, the spectacular nightly parades. The large, illuminated floats featured in these parades are impressively well-crafted and look beautiful in the evening. They generally depict battles between brave warriors and/or demons, and often incorporate other traditional Japanese motifs like animals, sea waves, etc. It's important to note that there are two additional such festivals in the region, including Goshogowara Tachi Nebuta, and Hirosaki Neputa. The Aomori festival is considered to be the biggest of the three and I will focus on it here, but all are unique and definitely worth checking out.

Fireworks display in Asamushi, 2013

The famous festival launches with a great fireworks display in the neighboring town of Asamushi (浅虫) on August 1. Located at the beach, the fireworks (花火, hanabi, or lit. "fire flowers") commence at nightfall and last for nearly two hours. In recent years I've gone early to secure a good viewing spot and catch the sunset while masses of people pour in to the area. The beach itself is closed as a safety precaution, but plenty of spaces are available just behind it and I've been able to get a nice view every year. As it has become a bit of a tradition, fellow English teachers from the area and Japanese friends alike come watch together on this night of fireworks as well. 

In Nebuta costume, 2012

The fantastic nightly parades start the next night in Aomori City. Taking place over six days and lasting two hours each, the parades are incredibly lively, fun, and upbeat. Each processional group is responsible for creating their unique float,  getting high school boys to push the floats during the parades, and organizing musicians who will march along and play the festival music each night. A major component is also the haneru (跳ねる, or "jump/bounce") dancers, who are in fact just regular everyday people who wish to participate. Initially these people tend to be workers for the company sponsoring the particular float, but anyone can join as long as they are wearing the proper festival costume. As a quick note, the English verb used to describe this dance is "jump" (e.g. "I will jump in the Nebuta Festival today").

In my opinion, the fact that you can move freely in and out of various groups throughout the night is one of the best aspects of the festival. So every year I've been able to enjoy jumping in a wide variety of groups and with all kinds of people, as well as find where the craziest and wildest dance groups are located.

If you want to try the Nebuta dance, all you have to do is jump up and down in a skipping motion, switching between legs. While dancing, you also must chant the phrase, Rasserā, Rasserā, Rasserā-serā-serā." Joining the parade very fun and I consider it a must-do experience. But watching the parade is also quite a spectacle.

The biggest feature of the festival are the Nebuta floats, as I mentioned earlier.  Amazingly, they are created from scratch every year. Originally, these used to be made from bamboo, covered in paper, and illuminated by real candles. But over time these materials were replaced by wire and electric lighting sources due to the obvious fire hazards! 

Standing in front of a Nebuta float

The marching musicians all play the same Nebuta song (see video above), and include taiko drums, flute, and small cymbals. Like the dancers, the musicians are generally everyday people living in the city, rather than professionals. The drummers are generally made up of men and sometimes women, but the flute and cymbal players come from all ages, both males and females. Also present in the parade is "Miss Nebuta," and sometimes a few other various figures. For instance, I saw a man randomly dressed like Elvis walking through the parade this year (sorry, no picture).

On the final day of the festival, a more relaxed version of the parade takes place in the afternoon and a fireworks show happens later in the evening. This final fireworks show (at Aomori Bay, Aomori City) acts as a closing ceremony and is quite beautiful. The floats are placed on boats and taken across the water to be seen just before the fireworks start. This show takes almost two hours, just like the first firework show in Asamushi a week earlier.

Final fireworks display of the festival

The Nebuta Festival is said to boost Aomori's population tenfold during the week. It makes the energy level in the city skyrocket and it's a very fun and exciting time. Every night people enjoy the festivities. People shout the Rassera chant and energetically jump and dance in the parades while the famous Nebuta music is played and spectators watch with smiles on their faces. Once the last firework is shot off and the final beers are drunk, the amped up town starts to settle down again, and Aomori quickly returns to normal. In Aomori, the end of Nebuta means school will be starting up again. It means the streets will be quiet at night. And it means that summer will be fading away soon. But before long, people will start designing and building the Nebuta floats again, and we will all look forward to what the next festival has in store.