The year of no Tohoku festivals

Ryusen Shoryuin paints a massive picture for a neputa float in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture. Although the Hirosaki Neputa Festival was canceled, he paints to pray for the end of the pandemic. To ward off evil spirits, the eyes of Raijin and Fujin are vermilion. (Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

The Aomori Nebuta Festival, the Akita Kanto Festival, the Morioka Sansa Odori Festival, the Sendai Tanabata Festival -- summer in the Tohoku region means massive summer festivals. This year, however, the festivals have been canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus. The bustle of the festivals has disappeared in Tohoku, and people in the region are facing an unusual summer without festivals.

At the Hirosaki Neputa Festival in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture, about 80 large and small neputa floats with pictures of samurai go through the town. Along with the Aomori Nebuta Festival, it is one of the prefecture's representative summer festivals.

The Hirosaki Neputa Festival was scheduled to be held in early August but was in April decided to be canceled.

Haruo Takahashi, 73, owner of a chochin Japanese lantern shop that creates around 1,000 chochin for the Akita Kanto Festival every year, looks at his chochin in Akita. "We are usually very busy making chochin until late night at this season. This is an aberrant year for me," he lamented. (Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

Ryusen Shoryuin, 73, a Neputa artist, painted a picture of Fujin (the god of wind) gazing at Raijin (the god of thunder) making medicine kneeling on one knee. Shoryuin said he drew the picture with a hope that the coronavirus problem will disappear soon. However, the painting will not be shown as a painting placed on a neputa float.

"It's frustrating that the festival to drive away evil spirits was cancelled," he said. In a usual year, he would be busy with production of the floats from mid-May. Last year, he painted 10 pictures for Neputa. This year, however, he was asked to paint for only two neputa floats on request from Hirosaki University.

The university has participated in the festival for more than 50 years. Even this year without the festival, the university asked Shoryuin, who has painted the university's neputa floats for 30 years, to paint. Hirosaki University will keep this year's neputa paintings as academic resources.

Chihiro Takahashi, 40, a member of Iwatesansanokai Katoke, one of the group that was going to participate in the Morioka Sansa Odori Festival, and her son Kei practice dancing in Ninohe, Iwate Prefecture. The Morioka Sansa Odori Festival, a festival in which dancers wearing colorful kimonos and drummers parade, has also been canceled. (Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

"If only there was a place where people could see the pictures," Shoryuin said.

Hirosaki University is considering ways to display the paintings because their theme is "wish for the containment of the coronavirus."

People walk by in front of Taishouen, which sells tea and other items, displaying a Tanabata decoration half the size regular years in Sendai's Aoba Ward, Miyagi Prefecture. Wishing to rid the nation of the pandemic, Amabie monster said to contain epidemic was pasted on the decoration. The Sendai Tanabata Festival, in which colorful Tanabata decorations adorn shopping streets, has also been canceled. (Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

(Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

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