Fukuno Yotaka Matsuri


Japan - Nanto (previously known as Fukuno)
Posted on May 2, 2010 by Stefan
Filed under Gallery, , ,

The Yotaka matsuri in Fukuno reminded me a lot of the big Nebuta matsuris happening in summer in the Aomori region. The floats aren’t as tall at the Fukuno Yotaka but still very impressive and nice to watch! Day 2 of the festival is the highpoint, when late at night the floats battle each other while young men riding on them try to destroy and damage each others floats. The whole spectacle reminded me a lot of old pirate movies .. when the floats drive up to each other side by side and battle it out.

The festival was a lot of fun to watch. The crowd was still manageable and i could move around freely with my camera … usually if a festival is nice to watch then big crowds will turn up and police usually

Transport: Toyama-Ken is a bit outside the usual travel route of tourists. You can get there by train but traveling by car is probably the easiest and fastest.

Website: There are two excellent websites (both in Japanese) about this fesitval here and here.

2 Responses to “Fukuno Yotaka Matsuri”

  1. I wonder if you know the difference between Nebuta and Neputa? I don’t. Never heard of this one before. The idea of battling pirates is lovely. I wonder too if they battle in Tohuku. I doubt it.

    • Stefan says:

      I am going to find out soon .. i have a big road trip to Tohuku planned for this August. 10 days, 10 festivals :-) ! .. just hope it won’t be raining!

      One difference between Neputa and Nebuta are the type of floats that are used. The Neputa festival is characterized by fan-shaped floats with two-dimensional paintings of war and peace, such as the one depicted to the left. The Nebuta festival, however, usually represent three-dimensional depictions of animals and people.

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