The Akita Kanto matsuri lantern festival 秋田 竿燈まつり

The Akita Festival of Lights

Every summer, the Akita Kanto matsuri lantern festival is a great popular festival in the region. Thousands of people participate and even more attend this fabulous spectacle which lights up the streets of Akita!

The Akita Kanto matsuri consists of carrying and balancing a large bamboo pole on which are hung " chochin " lanterns evoking the shape of a straw bag for "tawara" rice, a traditional technique of conservation which is not practiced hardly any more nowadays, except in a few places in Tohoku. In each lantern is placed a candle, which shines in the night.

The general shape evokes a rice plant ready to be harvested, which is called "inaho". On the lanterns appears a symbol or "my" belonging to a great historical family.

Children and only men try to carry these poles to the rows of lanterns, ranging from 5 meters to 12 meters for the largest, for a weight of 5 to 50 kg with 24 or 46 lanterns.

They take turns passing the pole to keep it balanced either on the hand, the forehead, the shoulder, or the lower back while arching.

The difficulty increases for each position, and when one of them manages to balance his pole on his lower back, bending it as much as possible, like a heavy ear of rice, with a fan in one hand, the public wildly applauds this formidable feat!

La perche ploie comme un épi de riz

The perch bends like an ear of rice

Jerome Laborde

Groupe d'enfants lors de la grande parade

Group of children during the big parade

Jerome Laborde


Address, timetable & access

  • Address

  • Timetable

    From Tokyo Station, approximately 4 hrs by train with the Akita Shinkansen
  • Price

    free
  • Access

    August 3-6

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