Yatemare! Yatemare!

L J English is captivated by the Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival held annually in Aomori

Having never been to Japan I may seem the least qualified person to talk about my favourite matsuri. Indeed, being a relative newcomer to Japanese culture I expect there are a great many festivals I do not even know about so I may be even less qualified to make a choice of “Favourite Festival”, but there is one matsuri that I know will be my first port of call when I finally get to travel to Japan.

The Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival looks breath-taking. I found out about this in quite an indirect manner when a friend of mine challenged me to learn and perform the song “Ora Tokyo Sa Igu Da!” by Japanese singer Yoshi Ikuzo. I found myself wanting to learn more about the singer himself and that naturally led me to listening to his other songs, one of which is titled “Tachineputa.”

I saw this song on YouTube and could tell from the thumbnail that Yoshi san was giving a live performance and within the first few seconds of the video I was greeted by the sights and sounds of the Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival

The sheer spectacle is one that is hard to put into words that will convey the grand and impressive nature of this matsuri, even when watching it online. As a person who was seeing this for the first time, I was amazed by the parade of gigantic lanterns which I think depict gods and mythical warrior-like characters and kabuki actors. From what I can gather the lanterns are constructed of washi paper over a wire frame and I can only guess at how long it must take to build one of these imposing and impressive creations. I think the word “Lantern” fails to convey the size of these things yet that is what they are. There must be some other materials in the frames to make them strong enough to stay in one piece – it fascinates me, and I hope I can see them up close one day.

These lanterns can be over seventy-five feet high (23 meters) – they are enormous and so impressive to see even in just a photo or video. I cannot imagine the actual sensation of being there in person to see these colossal constructions being conveyed through the streets with their accompanying bands of taiko drummers, flute players and masses of dancers following behind, all whilst an immense firework display dazzles overhead.

Just try to imagine how big seventy five feet is, it is hard to picture.

The matsuri takes place in August each year and is one of a series of similar festivals held in the Aomori region, the others being the Aomori Nebuta Festival and the Hirosaki Neputa Festival and both look as impressive as the Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival, but it’s the sheer scale of the Tachineputa lanterns that puts this one at the top of the list for me.

It is an ambition of mine to not only visit this festival but also to perform the “Tachineputa” song there as well.