Hachinohe Enburi, one of the finest festivals in northern Japan
Almost 800 years old, the Hachinohe Enburi is one of the largest and most impressive festivals in northern Japan.
The Enburi Matsuri or Enburi Festival of Hachinohe is a festival that takes place every year towards the end of February, when winter is slowly coming to an end and spring is just around the corner. The festival features a series of traditional folk dances that are performed to herald the end of the long and often harsh northern Japanese winter, and usher in the coming of spring by praying for a successful planting and harvesting season ahead. This year’s festival will take place from February 17 to 20.
Historically, the Hachinohe region in northern Japan has experienced difficulties with rice cultivation due to cold spring and summer winds that sometimes killed crops. Given these constant risks of famine, the festival long became a particularly important form of imploring a bountiful harvest for the community as a whole.
The origins of the Enburi festival go back almost 800 years, making it not only a magnificent event, but also one steeped in history and tradition. Throughout the festival, dancers called tayu perform a series of dances that mimic the stages of rice cultivation, from planting to harvesting. The dancers wear large, beautifully decorated hats, called eboshi, shaped like the head of a horse, an animal of particular importance in the region. During their performances, the tayu swing their heads and eboshi up and down, almost brushing the ground, in a dance reminiscent of spirited horses left to run wild in a snowy field. These dances are also said to be a ritual to shake up the earth and wake up the field gods after winter.
Over its three days, the festival is made up of many different events and dances, taking place in various parts of the town, but also in the surrounding region. One of the best opportunities to admire these traditions come to life is during the Issei-Zuri, the grand procession held on the first day: the thirty troupes of dancers march together down the streets of downtown Hachinohe, each performing their own style of dance in an impressive display of color and mastery.
Another interesting option is to attend the performances of the Enburi troupes each evening of the festival in the snow-covered gardens of the Kojokaku mansion by torchlight. This mansion was built by a wealthy Hachinohe merchant in the early 1900s, and its classical Japanese architecture creates a particularly poetic atmosphere in which to watch the festival. While admiring the dances, spectators are invited to sample bowls of senbei-jiru, a local specialty consisting of chicken soup and wheat cakes, and to drink steaming cups ofamazake, a very mild and sweet sake served hot.
Further information: https: //visithachinohe.com/
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