Kanto Festival

Historical Background

There are various theories about the origin of the Kanto festival, but you can look back in the middle of the Edo period. The present official name of the event was first used by Tetsusaku Okubo in 1881, when he suggested the idea of entertaining the Meiji Emperor with the Kanto performance to those in charge of hosting the Emperor during his visit to Akita. The most popular theory on its origin is that it originated from a Tanabata event called "Neburi Nagashi'', which was used to ward off summer sleepiness, impurity, and bad pestilence.  It already existed in the Horeki Period (1751-1764).

People decorated bamboo strips with strips of paper with wishes written on them, paraded them through the city, and finally floated them into the river. As time passed, the bamboo became huge and many lanterns were attached to it, and the event started to center on the exhibiting skill of balancing the bamboo to avoid falling over. It is not a festival of a specific shrine or temple, and has been passed down as an event to ward off evil spirits, purify people, and pray for a rich harvest.

About Kanto groups

There are 38 Kanto groups of neighborhood associations and 36 groups of business organizations.

Foreign participants: Although exchange students participate in the Kanto festival, there are no foreigners in groups of business organizations.

Kanto and Gender

Women’s participation in Kanto 

• Both Ohayashi and Sashite used to be limited to men. For Sashite especially, only the first sons were allowed to participate. 

• Around 1980, when there was a severe shortage of Ohayashi successors, the administrative of the Akita City Kantokai at the time decided to accept women to Ohayashi as well.

• "The prohibition against women became a nationwide topic in 1980, when it was designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the national government.”

• Since the rules for Kanto are to be decided by each town and there is no shared restriction, "Even today, some townships do not allow women to participate in Ohayashi.”

(from "Inclusion of External Participants for Succession of Tradition (Negishi & Narisawa, 2020)")

To know more!

How to access

The Kanto festival is held in Akita city every year from August 3 to 6. While people tend to associate it with lighted lanterns at night, people also can enjoy it during day time. The popular night performance lasts from seven-fifteen to eight thirty-five on Sanoh Street during the traffic regulation from six fifteen to nine-thirty. It will take around fifteen minutes on foot from JR Akita station to get to the edge of the street. The daytime competition is held from nine am to three forty on the first three days and from nine twenty to three on the last day at Nakaichi Area Park (1 Chome-4 Nakadori, Akita city). The competition has two categories, which are Sashite and Ohayashi. Not all but several members from Kanto-kai join and compete on whose performance is the best. 

Since the main performance at night is held on a street, people can watch it from the pedestrian road for free. The audiences also have choices to get seats located at the center of the street for the main night performance. Seats are all reserved, and group seats that are for a maximum of six people cost 28,000 yen, S seats cost  4,500 yen per person, A seats are 4,000 yen and B seats are 3,000 yen. Tickets are sold via the Internet, phone call, fax or at the office counter at Akitashi Machinaka Kanko Annaijo (1-chome 2-37, Omachi, Akita city) for around three months before. 

People can also enjoy food stands in the parking lot of the Akita city hall. It would be a great opportunity to try typical Japanese festival foods such as Takoyaki and Yakisoba and dishes from Akita including Misotanpo.  All visitors are welcome to see the performance. The participants of the Kanto festival are those who belong to Kanto-kai, meaning Kanto club. Those teams are based on companies, schools, and resident associations, mainly in Akita. In this sense, the participation is exclusive to those who have any roots in Akita. At the same time, it gives communities based on their places or belongings.

Further information

• Official homepage of the Kanto festival [Japanese]

• Official homepage of the Kanto festival [English]

• Brochure of Akita city folk performing arts heritage center