Japan Guide
Northern Honshū
Kantō Festival Centre
You can learn more about local celebrations at the Kantō Festival Centre, or Neburi-Nagashi-kan. There are videos of recent Kantō Matsuri and sample kantō to try out. The kantō is a bamboo pole, up to 10m tall and weighing perhaps 60kg, to which dozens of paper lanterns are attached on crossbars. During the festival (Aug 3–6), as many as two hundred poles are carried through the streets in celebration of the coming harvest, as teams of men and young boys show their skill in balancing and manipulating the hefty poles. The festival was originally a pre-harvest ritual and, as the line of kantō sway in the dark, the yellow lanterns look like so many heads of golden rice. Opening time: Daily 9.30am–4.30pm Price: ¥100, or ¥250 with Aka-renga Kyōdo-kan