The Roving Ronin Report

2010 Hirosaki Neputa Matsuri My second night in Aomori Prefecture I went to the city of Hirosaki for its Neputa Matsuri, a festival where they predominately use fan-shaped floats with painted pictures on them. The paintings depict scenes from Japanese and Chinese history and legend. Neputa is seen more like a parade for going to war so the scenes are more warlike and on the back are often paintings of women who represent the women who would say farewell to their warriors. Because of the warlike nature of Neputa, some of the paintings can be a bit gory with bloody severed heads. There is also a brief demonstration of using the katana. This is my fourth time to the festival and it's one of my favorite being different each year as they make new floats every year.

Kuroishi Neputa Matsuri 2010 Kuroishi Neputa Matsuri is a Japanese festival in the small town of Kuroishi in the Aomori prefecture in the northern Japanese region called Tohoku. For the festival, the people of Kuroishi make floats of washi - japanese paper - and paint them with scenes from Japanese and Chinese history and legends. The floats are illuminated from within so it makes for some beautiful artwork.