🏮 Noshiro Nebunagashi

能代ねぶながし

Noshiro, Akita (Noshiro Port Shimohama Wharf) · Every year on 6 August

Traditional performing arts

326 days to go
Rooms around Noshiro, Akita fill up while the festival is on.

Noshiro Nebunagashi is held every August in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture, and is a traditional Yakutōro festival run in rotation by five neighborhood groups in the central part of Noshiro: Ōmachi-gumi, Kamimachi-gumi, Manmachi-gumi, Seisuke-machi-gumi, and Yanagimachi-gumi. Large castle-shaped lanterns with over a thousand years of history parade through the city accompanied by flute and drum music. The drumming, which seems to make the ground rumble, the sound of flutes echoing in the night sky, and the forceful, brightly lit procession of the giant lanterns are powerful. At the end of the festival, the shachi (mythical fish) from the top of the float lanterns is placed on a raft and burned away on the Yoneshiro River in the Shachi Nagashi at the foot of Noshiro Ohashi Bridge, and as the festival music changes to a mournful tone, it signals the end of summer.