Nebuta Festival Parade

I always enjoy reading about the origins of the festivals that we attend. There are several different stories relating to the origins of the Aomori Nebuta festival, all of them interesting. Regardless of it's origins, it is one of the largest and most popular festivals in Northern Japan. The floats are like enormous paper lanterns, depicting heroes, beasts, and mythological characters. It is an impressive parade, and is considered a must see if you have the chance to visit the Tohoku region of Japan in August.

This was my favorite float. The snake heads bobbed as the float moved. It was unique compared to many of the others.

It was a long hot day followed by a late night. Poor boy did his best to make it though, but he kept laying down on our blanket. We ended up leaving the parade early - the kids were tired and we wanted to avoid some of the traffic getting out of Aomori.

We had a great time, but we also found that we have a personal preference for the Sansha Taisai parade we went to in Hachinohe last year. It's true that it was our first big Japanese parade, and so our minds were easily blown by the intricacy of the floats. Still, there is something really impressive about seeing people straining to pull those heavy floats. We also found the parade to be more interesting in between floats at the Sansha Taisai. We loved all the different types of dancers, while the Nebuta only has one type of chant/dance. Both are very impressive and fun experiences, and I do recommend them both.