Adventures in Japan: Rassera Rassera!

Minasan konnichiwa!

I would like the record to show that I have officially survived the hottest summer of my life...okay, the summer isn't over, but I'm pretty sure that this past week was the hottest week on record in Japan (at least in my opinion). With two AC units in the house and only one of them half working, I was ready to throw in the towel and just sit in an ice bath all day. But instead, I attempted to apply make up (which sweated off in about 3 minutes), left the house with semi-wet hair and was off to Nebuta Festival!

The Aomori Nebuta Matsuri (青森ねぶた祭り) is a 6 day-long summer festival (August 2-7) that takes place in Aomori City in Aomori Prefecture (it's about a 2-2.5 hour drive away from where I am). There are different versions of the story of its origin, but this one is my favorite because it's overly dramatic and gives respect to the etymology of the word Nebuta (I'll give you the short version): Aterui, a military general from the Tohoku region, led his troops to Fuji to battle Sakanoue no Tamuramaro's army for over 12 years. In the end, Aterui lost the battle, was captured and taken to Osaka where he was eventually beheaded. Back home in Tohoku, Aterui's family and followers were forced to dig their own graves and were buried alive. The other people in the region who surrendered as slaves were forced to throw dirt on the graves and stomp on them (this is symbolized during the parade when the people stomp the ground as they carry Sakanoue no Tamuramaro's float). This story is said to be the origin of Nebuta (根蓋 in Kanji) because Aterui's followers were sent back to the world of the dead (根) with the dirt as the covering (蓋) - I am always fascinated with the history of words, even when I can't read/understand them.

So now that you've had your history lesson for the day, you might be wondering what this matsuri is like today (or what a parade with giant floats and dancing have to do with some guy being beheaded). Well, each float (referred to as nebuta) represents some scene of a great warrior in battle with an enemy or an oni (demon). The scenes used to be created with paper, bamboo and were illuminated with candles but because of the fire hazard, the bamboo was replaced with wire and the candles with fluorescent lighting. Aomori's nebutas are more wide than they are tall (there are other nebutas that are "standing") and are carried by groups of people throughout the city. In between the nebutas, dancers in the unique traditional dress called "haneto" prance around to the chant "Rassera!" while taiko drums keep the beat throughout the parade. Participation in the festival is open to anyone for the first five days (as long as they wear the haneto) and locals call it "haneru", which roughly translates to bounce. Get a better idea of what I'm talking about by checking out the video below!

Whew, okay. So what did I think of it? Yamamoto san (my group leader at work), Mieko, Ayumi, Keiko and I all headed out bright and early to check out the festival on its last day. The upside? We would get to enjoy the 2 hour firework show that happens at the end of the last day. The downside? Only professional groups can participate in the dancing on the last day. Um, WHAT?! I've been robbed of the permission to dance?! Don't worry, I made sure to participate from the sidelines - I was the crazy gaijin yelling RASSERA, bouncing around on one foot and shaking the bells I bought as a souvenir. I guess I don't embarrass easy. The parade was beautiful; we didn't get to see the floats lit up since the parade was during the day, but we had the opportunity to see a few of them on the water during the firework show. The seven(?) best floats are chosen and then paraded around on the bay at the end of the festival.

Large Nebuta - Sponsored by Toshiba

Large Nebuta - Sponsored by Kirin (yay!)

The Japanese military participating in the parade.

This little guy was so obviously thrilled to be there.

The traditional headdress to accompany the haneto (note the bell keychain on my cell phone)

Needless to say, I was melting. It was unnaturally hot and I went with the modest dress of jeans and a top...with short sleeves. Shorts and a tank top would have been way more comfortable. By the time the sun went down and I no longer felt like a rotisserie chicken, we were invited to share a tarp with some JETs from the area and I got to enjoy speaking English and eating a cheeseburger (yea I know...enjoying the local cuisine, right?). I had a couple cups of beer throughout the day but quite honestly, it was at that degree of heat when drinking just makes it worse. I usually opted for the bottle of iced tea.

Aomori-ken is famous for its apples...apple pie, anyone?

Flying ika! Yes...those are dried squid. Straight. Up.

Oishi so? (Um...no)

The crowd settles down before the firework show (Asapamu in the background)

On the way to Aomori, Yamamoto san made a few stops along the way to a few sightseeing spots - enjoy the beautiful Aomori-ken scenery through the lens of my camera :)