There are three great ‘neputa’ festivals in northern Japan, which involve the parading of giant floats on which stand lit figures made out of paper – they are, effectively, giant paper lanterns: the Hirosaki Neputa, the Aomori Neputa Matsuri and the Goshogawara Tachi Neputa.
The Aomori Neputa Festival is counted as one of the three great Tohoku festivals, and it attracts some three million people.
However, the neputa of Goshogawara Tachi Neputa, while similar in style to those of the Aomori or Hirosaki festivals, are much taller.
These gigantic floats rise to some 22 metres in height and can weigh up to 17 tonnes. As the parade winds through the streets of Goshogawara City, everyone cheers “Yatte-mare, yatte-mare!”, which means something close to “Go and get ’em!” and harkens back to the combative history of the festival, when fights would break out among competing floats and their members.
Indeed, the neputa are so tall that when power lines and utility poles were put up around Goshogawara Station, the tachi neputa would get caught every year, causing power outages, so the lines were buried underground.
The parade begins with great fanfare as it gets dark and the lights in the neputa are lit up…
With the 17-tonne floats being heaved forward to the rhythm of the beating drums…
and accompanied by smaller neputa…
But, of course, the centre of attraction are the giants…
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