Akita Kanto Matsuri
Akita Kanto Matsuri is held over four evenings in early August and is one of the three great festivals of the Tohoku region. A kanto is a bamboo pole hung with rows of paper lanterns: the full-size version carries forty-six lanterns, stands about twelve metres tall and weighs around fifty kilograms. Some two hundred and fifty of them are raised at once along a closed main avenue, and the performers balance the swaying poles on a palm, a forehead, a shoulder or a hip, adding extension pieces to push them higher while drums and flutes keep time and the crowd calls "dokkoisho". Poles tip and crash into the street regularly, which is part of the appeal. The festival grew from an eighteenth-century rite to drive off summer sickness and pray for a good harvest, and the lantern rows are meant to evoke heavy ears of rice. Daytime skill contests are held separately, and after the evening show spectators are usually invited to try lifting a pole.
Event information
| When | Usually held in early August; check the official site for the latest schedule |
|---|---|
| Where | Akita |
| Access | The evening performance takes place on Kanto Odori, a wide avenue about fifteen minutes on foot from JR Akita Station, which is the terminus of the Akita Shinkansen from Tokyo. Daytime demonstration contests are held at a separate central venue, and both are within walking distance of the station-area hotels. |
| Schedule status | Check the official site |
| Official information | Open the official site |
Practical tips
- Akita is a small city and its hotels fill for these four nights well before summer. Many visitors base themselves in Morioka or Sendai and use the shinkansen, or take a bus in for the evening.
- Paid grandstand seats on the main avenue are sold in advance through the official committee; free standing areas exist behind them but fill up an hour or more before the poles go up.
- Sit or stand a little back from the front row if you are with children: poles do topple, and the crews steer them into the street rather than the crowd.
- Combine the trip with the daytime skill contest, which is easier to photograph and far less crowded than the evening avenue.
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