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The is a Japanese festival celebrated from 3–7 August in Akita City, Akita Prefecture in hope for a good harvest. Around two hundred bamboo poles five to twelve metres long, bearing twenty-four or forty-six lanterns, topped with ''gohei'', and weighing up to fifty kilograms, are carried through the streets by night on the palms, foreheads, shoulders, or lower backs of the celebrants.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Akita Kantō official website )〕 The festival is first referred to in a travel diary of 1789 .〔 It is one of the main festivals in Tōhoku, along with the Tanabata festival in Sendai, the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri festival, and the Hanagasa Matsuri festival in Yamagata. The Akita Kantō festival was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1980.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Akita Kantō festival )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Seasonal Festivals (Matsuri) )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Database of Registered National Cultural Properties )〕 == History == This festival originated from Neburi Nagashi which was held for ridding illness and maliciousness in summer. It already existed in the Horeki Period (1751–1764), in the middle of Edo era. "Yuki no huru michi (The road where it snows)” written by Soan Tsumura in 1789 is regarded as the oldest document which described Neburi Nagashi. It describes that Neburi Nagashi was held on July 6 of the lunar calendar and introduced as the original tradition of Akita. Also, Neburi Nagashi was an annual event to pray for good harvests and artistic progress. In the Neburi Nagashi around Akita city, people decorated silk trees and bamboo grasses with strips of paper on which they had written their wishes. Then, they walked around the city with them and floated them downstream. In Neburi Nagashi, people combined candles and lanterns. This instrument for Neburi Nagashi became called Kanto. 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 who were in charge of hosting the Emperor during his visit to Akita.〔Sayaka Hashimoto. “Artistic Weight Lifting KANTOU: Tradition and Acculturation”. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ijshs/4/Special_Issue_2006/4_Special_Issue_2006_187/_article.〕 Since the lunar calendar changed to the solar calendar in 1872, the Kanto festival was compelled to be held one month earlier.〔 However, the number of Kanto, which had been 50 in 1900, had dramatically decreased due to changes of festival’s schedule and its site. The numbers of Kanto which participated in the Kanto festival in 1905 were only 4 or 5 and this situation made the future of the festival uncertain. Emperor Taisho visited Akita and appreciated Kanto performance in 1908. Also a soft drink factory started to advertise its beverages on Kanto’s lanterns in 1909. These two events helped the restoration of Kanto festival. Then, the festival’s schedule changed to the lunar calendar again to avoid the rainy season and the number of visitors increased. In 1931, the Kanto Society, which managed the Kanto Skill Festival (Myogikai), was founded. Although Kanto festival was canceled between 1938 and 1946 due to the Second World War, it resumed after the war. The Kanto Festival Executive Committee was established in 1966. While the Kanto Society had been managing the Kanto Skill Festival, the Kanto Festival Executive Committee was in charge of the operation of the Kanto Festival. Triggered by the First Kanto Performance overseas in San Diego, USA, in 1976, the Kanto began to be performed in various countries.〔 The date of the festival had changed three times. At present, the Kanto festival is held from August 3 to 6 every year. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Akita Kantō」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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