Akita City Folk Arts Center (Neburinagashi-Kan) — Attraction in Akita

The Akita City Folk Traditions Hall was created for the purpose of preserving and handing down the local folk events and entertainment of Akita City and it has been nicknamed the "Neburi-nagashi hall". On the first floor you will find an exhibition hall that introduces a number of traditional festivals and events in Akita City such as the Akita Kanto, the Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Shrine celebration, and Bon-den. The Akita Kanto is a festival where a large number of paper lanterns are affixed on rods joined together crosswise in order to pray for a good rice harvest. You can see the skilled performers carrying the lanterns on their foreheads and shoulders as the audience watches on in wonder. You can also try out the Challenge Corner where you try to balance a lantern yourself, and on the second floor exhibition hall you can see documents and videos about the folk traditions here in Akita. From April to October on weekends and public holidays (13:30~14:10) there will be a performance from a representative of the Akita Kanto Society, and in summer there sometimes folk...

KANTO-MATSRI is said to have evolved from the Tanabata festival in this region into a strange festival over time. Like Tanabata, it all started with hanging strips of paper with wishes written on them on bamboo or silk trees and letting them float down the river along with evil spirits or sleepiness. For people at that time, sleepiness may have been the evil spirit that needed to be avoided above all else. That's why this festival was called NEMURI-NAGASHI at the time. Over time, it was called NEBURI-NAGASHI. In Akita, NEBURI means sleep, but in other regions it means licking, so it tends to mean "licking and letting it go". During the Edo period, as candles and lanterns became more common, it somehow changed into a festival where many lanterns were attached to bamboo poles and balanced. It's unclear what the significance of balancing a bamboo pole and lanterns weighing over 50 kg is. Maybe it's because it's funny. We Japanese love things that make us all...

It is a nice place, the cost is super accesible and it hasvery interesting information about the different festivals that take place in Akita. Most of the available information and videos are in Japanese, so if not familiar with the language, I would recommend to use a translation app. What made the experience AMAZING, was that the day I visited, the place was holding a Kanto Matsuri demonstration, it was a lot of fun!! The people explained the origins of Kanto Matsuri, they demonstrated the music and the parade, also the audience was able to try and hold the lamps. If you plan to visit this Center, I recommend to find out the dates that they have this...