Neputa Matsuri of Hirosaki, Japan
Overshadowed Neputa Festival Shines With an Artistic Light Hirosaki’s Neputa Festival Presents Finely Painted Floats of War and Peace A Traditional Fan-Shaped Neputa Float The Neputa Festival of Hirosaki, in northern Japan, suffers from being overshadowed by its more famous sister festival, the Nebuta Festival of Aomori City. Even many Japanese have never heard of it. Many think the word “Neputa” is just another word for “Nebuta” or a slip of the tongue. This is unfortunate because the Neputa festival is worthy of recognition in its own right. A Kagami-e Fighting Scene The first recorded Neputa festival goes back to 1722 but the festival itself is no doubt older. The Neputa festival has been named an important intangible national cultural heritage custom. The traditional floats of Neputa are not the three-dimensional ones like those of the Nebuta Festival, though some of those type floats are used in the procession. The Neputa floats are two-dimensional large flat fan-shaped floats wi...