What to do and see in Akita Prefecture, Tohoku: The Best Cultural Events

The Kanto, or "Pole Lantern", Festival is held from August 3-6. Performers take to the street en masse to show their skill in balancing bamboo "kanto" poles. Each pole, which can be up to 40 feet tall and 90 pounds in weight, has paper lanterns tied to its top-- all with a real, lit candle inside! Entertainers are expert in wielding these, and when the Night Parade takes over the festival's main street, over 250 kanto poles light the area, and a 90-minute show gets underway. Energy is high as drums, flutes, and a crowd chanting "dokkoisho!" accompany the performers as they heft aloft the kanto. Afterwards, guests are welcome to give it a try themselves.

Noshiro Tanabata Festival "Tenku no Fuyajo" is a parade of Japan's dreamiest floats. Gigantic lanterns, over fifty feet in height, are constructed to resemble ancient, multi-tiered castles, and breathtaking shapes. The paper is dyed to give their glow spectrum of rainbow colors. Like something out of a fairy tale, their procession is accompanied by the gravitas of taiko drums, which blare out into the night air, adding to the spellbinding quality of this unique parade.

Yokote in Akita Prefecture has a 450 year-old event paying respects to the local water deity during the 14th-16th days of the lunar New Year. Snow huts are built, and local children serve sweet sake and sticky rice to attendees, creating a beautiful winter scene. There are also events to try your hand at building miniature snow huts and get a commemorative photo taken, and a rally of 5m tall, 30kg festive pennants carried by the locals (the Asahioka-yama Shrine Bonden Festival). There are various events around the festive pennants donated by each city and volunteers.

This festival is held every year, from morning to night, for three days starting on Sept. 7. Eighteen festival floats proceed to the Shinmei Shrine and Yakushi Temple, then proceed through the town to submit to inspection by the Lord of Satake. When the floats collide on the streets, the crews will negotiate for right of way, but if negotiations break down, the floats will engage in a violent duel known as "yama-butsuke," where the floats crash into each other until one or the other yields.