Aomori Nebuta Matsuri

Paper warriors, lit from inside

The nebuta are huge figures of warriors, gods and legendary scenes, built from paper over a frame and lit from within. Each evening from 2 to 6 August they are pulled through the centre of Aomori, with smaller children’s nebuta on the first two nights. The floats are made by named nebuta artists, who win prizes in their own right alongside the groups that carry their work.

The music is nebuta-bayashi, played on flute, drum and hand gong, and around each float dance the haneto, the “leapers”. On 7 August the large nebuta run by day, and the festival ends that evening with fireworks and a procession of nebuta across the water of Aomori Port.

Anyone can dance

What sets Nebuta apart is how open it is. You do not need to belong to a group, register in advance or sign in on the day: the organisers say that anyone wearing the proper haneto costume may join a nebuta group that is waiting to set off. The costume, not a membership, is the condition of taking part.

Where the name comes from

Its origins are uncertain. The festival committee suggests it grew out of the lantern-floating of Tanabata, brought from China in the Nara period, merging with older customs of the Tsugaru region such as sending away spirits and insects. As paper, bamboo and candles became common, lanterns turned into the figure nebuta. The name itself is thought to come from nemuri, “sleep”, as in nemuri-nagashi, the custom of sending drowsiness away — which suggests the festival was once about driving something off, just as the sea procession still carries the lanterns away.