Tohoku 2016 東北の旅 - Tachineputa Museum 立佞武多の館

Visited 18.05.2016 (Wed)





Aim. Main objective of visiting Goshogawara was to see the city's version of lantern floats used to celebrate Nebuta/Neputa festival. Alongside Aomori and Hirosaki’s Nebuta Festival, Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival is one of top three Nebuta/Neputa festival in Aomori Prefecture during summer. Similar to the concept of Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse ねぶたの家 ワラッセ (situated in Aomori city, a museum which showcases the actual lantern floats that were paraded on the streets), Tachineputa Museum provides opportunity for visitors to come up close to the gigantic lantern floats outside of the festival period. Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival is held between 4 to 8 August. During the festival period, the lantern floats weighing as heavy as 19 tons are unveiled at Tachineputa Museum and are marched through the city at night.

Background. Goshogawara’s version is known as tachineputa, translated to mean “standing Nebuta/Neputa”, because the lantern floats measure 23 m in height (equivalent to a 7 storey building), way taller than Aomori’s equivalent which are only 5 m high. Nebuta Festival was celebrated as early as 1900s and its original intent was to ward off evil / motivate people to pull through the hot summer period. In Goshogawara, wealthy merchants and landlords compete to create the largest lantern float, as a symbol of power and wealth, and this gave rise to giant lantern floats unique to this town. In the olden days, these lanterns which depicted kabuki, gods and mythical characters in folk tales, were illuminated by candles. When electricity became increasingly accessible to people during Taisho era (1912 - 1926), the presence of electric wires/cables obstructed the parade of tachineputa on the street. Subsequently, the blueprints for these lantern floats was said to be destroyed by a huge fire that broke out in town. This resulted in the festival being ceased for a long period of time. It was only until 1993, the photos and blueprints of tachineputa were discovered which sparked its comeback. Restoration of the lantern floats and revival of Nebuta Festival was eventually made possible due to relentless hard work put in by the locals to preserve this cultural festival.

Mind blowing. After my ticket was checked by the staff, my eyes caught sight of the soaring high lantern floats and I felt so puny standing right in front of them! Followed the directional signs and took the elevator to the highest floor where the tour officially began. As I walked along the passageway which spiraled down gently, following the circumference of the museum building, I learnt about the history of the festival and the arduous yet fulfilling process of creating these gigantic lantern floats through the exhibits. At the same time, the layout also allowed visitors to admire three tachineputa, which occupied the center stage, from various angles and from top to bottom clearly. Being a person who love to scrutinise details, my eyes were glued to the vividly coloured and dynamic looking lantern floats at all times, trying to identify the subtle details. The level of details is simply mind blowing; these lanterns are truly a showcase of the locals' borderless creativity and remarkable skills. It is especially heartening to know that this festival, apart from attracting numerous visitors to the city in August, has strengthened the bonds between the locals and created a common entity that the people of Goshogawara can take pride in.

Goshogawara apple! Grabbed my third soft serve for this trip from the museum’s cafe and finally it is an apple flavored one (since Aomori Prefecture is well known for this fruit). There are a variety of apples grown in Aomori Prefecture, but Goshogawara apple ゴショガワラりんご is exclusively harvested in this city only. What makes this apple different from the conventional ones is it is red both on the inside and outside. Outside of its harvesting season in autumn, food products such as juices, sweets and confectionery, manufactured from these apples are available for sale all year round. The Goshogawara apple flavoured soft serve was delicious; love the sweet, tint of sourness and refreshing taste.



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Tachineputa Museum 立佞武多の館
〒037-0063 青森県五所川原市大町506-10
Operating hours: 0900 - 1900 hrs (Apr - Sep); 0900 - 1700 hrs (Oct - Mar)
Admission fee = 600 yen
http://www.tachineputa.jp/

How to get there?

(1) By foot. About 5 minutes walk from Goshogawara JR Station 五所川原駅 / Tsugaru Goshogawara Station 津軽五所川原駅.

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Commemorative stamps: