For a week in August, smells of fresh apple juice and crispy fried chicken waft through the air every evening in Japan’s northern Aomori prefecture. The annual Nebuta Festival brings sounds of kane bells and taiko drums to the streets as giant floats dazzle with illuminated designs of peony flowers and angry-faced ogres.
Motifs inspired by ancient folklore and historical tales transport spectators into a world of myth and legend. Locals get to appreciate the work they put in the previous months, when the whole community came together to paint and waterproof the washi paper covering the floats.
Behind each float, festival goers donning colorful costumes jump, dance, and shout “Rassera!” The procession spans approximately six miles, with judges scrutinizing each float’s artistry and craftsmanship.
An offshoot of the Tanabata festival which dates back to the 8th century, the festival draws millions of spectators and participants across three dozen cities every year. Its purpose is to chase away bad spirits that cause drowsiness during the busy farming season.
Dancers, called haneto, accompany the floats during the festival.
Photograph by Kazuki Wakasugi, Yomiuri Shimbun/AP Images
While the Nebuta Festival in Aomori City is the most popular, those of Goshogawara and Hirosaki have their own flair, too. Goshogawara is known for its tall floats, some spanning over 75 feet in height. Meanwhile, in Hirosaki where the festival is said to have originated in 1722, a more traditional approach prevails, with locals coming together to paint the simple shell-shaped floats.
Today, only two Nebuta Masters (Nebuta-meijin), artisans in charge of designing and constructing the floats, remain active in Aomori City. Hiroo Takenami, 65, seventh generation Nebuta artisan, and Takashi Kitamura, 76, sixth generation, say it’s more of a calling than a job.
Though many aspire to become Nebuta artisans, the job offers little pay and rest, resulting in high dropout rates. The Nebuta Festival, while holding on to tradition, is learning how to adapt to the times.
The last two Nebuta masters of Aomori City
On a cold February afternoon in snow-frosted Aomori City, the two Nebuta artisans are hard at work. Before the presentation in August, the masters need to research into the designs, which are almost always historically-informed, make 2D drafts full of color, and transform them directly into full-size 3D structures with wires and wooden planks before placing the lightbulbs, sticking on the washi paper, and painting over the white canvas.
Takenami is especially excited this year about the float he is making for Japan Railway, themed around young people traveling and rediscovering a post pandemic world. Kitamura remains tight-lipped about this year’s float.
Kitamura and Takenami are the last two active Nebuta Masters. To reach this honor, an artisan must train and complete multiple major floats: a multi-decade-long process that doesn’t guarantee the title. Only seven have been chosen as Masters since the first in 1959.
Although the festival happens only once a year, it is no part-time job and offers only a few weeks of rest.
Four massive floats show off their intricate structure, bright colors, and painted details crafted by Nebuta masters.
Photograph by Kentaro Tominaga, The Yomiuri Shimbun/ AP Images
This has built differing schools of thought between the two on how future generations should be brought up: whether it’s the responsibility of the artist to dedicate their life, or the responsibility of the region to make the craft livable.
Kitamura grew up making miniature Nebuta floats with his two brothers at home. By fourth grade, he had found his calling. He made his first float at 18, remembering the joy of the process and satisfaction when the result was “heaven-like.”
For thirty years, he took on other work in the winter off-season to stay afloat. He recalls living with six other men in a small apartment in Yokohama, where he worked as a plasterer in winter.
Now, his disciples work six days a week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. When asked how they make an income, he shrugs, “I have no idea. You must dedicate it all, in order to thrive.”
Takenami fell in love with the colors of the floats and begged his mother to take him to the festival every year as a child. He worked as a full-time pharmacist while working on Nebuta on nights and weekends until he was 35.
Takenami has his disciples—most have full-time jobs—work a similar schedule.
For future generations, Takenami believes the city should have a budget for artists wanting to move to Aomori to learn. Disciples often find the financial barrier too difficult.
“You plant the seed and the bud emerges, but it withers before the flower can bloom.”
The future of Nebuta
Nebuta and its artisans have had to adapt to attract new generations of talent and interest. The Nebuta craft only welcomed its first female artisan, Asako Kitamura, 41, in the past decade.
“Girls were just not included,” says Kitamura, who grew up watching her father, Takashi, work on Nebuta. “I was told not to come into the work space.”
Kitamura won a prestigious award after directing her first float in 2012 depicting the Battle of Zhuolu to those affected by the triple disaster in Fukushima a year earlier. Everyone asked her if her father had made it, she remembers.
Since then, much has changed. Her father sees her as a rival and acknowledges her as an equal in the field. Two out of sixteen Nebuta artisans in Aomori are currently women. Although she hasn’t taken on any apprentices yet and feels it is important to “raise successors whether they be men or women.”
“There are some things that you won’t know unless you have a female teacher,” she says, recalling how she continued making floats while pregnant with her two children, with even tougher sleepless nights after their births. “Male artisans simply can’t understand that struggle.”
There has also been more awareness put on the environmental impact of Nebuta in past years. Approximately 23 kilowatts, or two times the daily electricity usage of a household, is used for one float every night of the festival. In the past ten years, LED lights, which use less energy, have become common and during last year’s festival, a handful of floats implemented solar-power panels.
There is ample effort being put into keeping the art form fresh. The Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse holds an annual competition for students to draw pictures they want made into floats—then sponsors a few to be made by artisans. In high schools, you might find Nebuta clubs, and more floats are depicting anime and other pop culture.
Takenami hopes Nebuta will one day become recognized globally as its own “genre of art.”
How to see Nebuta festivals in 2024
The three major Nebuta festivals are held in Goshogawara, Hirosaki, and Aomori City. You can participate as a spectator at the first two cities, or join the festival as a haneto dancer in Aomori City.
To get to any of the festivals from Tokyo, take the 3 hour bullet train to Shin-Aomori station or the hour-long flight from Haneda Airport to Aomori Airport.
Aomori’s festival, August 2nd to 7th, is 10 minutes by car from Shin-Aomori station.
Goshogawara’s festival, August 4th to 8th, is 50 minutes by car from Aomori City or 2 hours on the local train to Goshogawara station.
Hirosaki’s festival, August 1st to 7th, is 50 minutes by car from Aomori City or 1 hour on the local train to Hirosaki station.
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