Kamakura Snow Festival
Yokote is a vibrant city 60 kilometers from Akita City, with a full schedule of festivals and events all year round. With plenty of opportunities to get active outdoors, there's no shortage of things to see and do here.
Yokote is home to the famous Yokote Snow Festival , a 450-year-old celebration held every year in February when igloo-like snow huts called kamakura, are built all over the city. There are over 100 kamakura scattered around the city and most of them are hosted by children. It is said that the Yokote Kamakura Festival is a result of two ancient traditions. The first comes from the locals burning the New Year decorations as a way to return something to the gods. The second is based on the children who used to scare away the birds from the crops to prevent damage. The locals believe that children who become hosts in the kamakura will please the water deity.
Inside each kamakura is a small snow altar dedicated to the water deity as well as a brazier used to store hot coals and keep the snow hut warm. During the festival season children offer rice cakes and amazake (sweet rice wine) to festival visitors, and in return visitors make an offering to the water deity.
When the weather gets warmer, the festivities heat up too. Held each summer, the Omagari Fireworks Festival sees almost 800,000 spectators swarm to the area to witness one of Japan's most impressive fireworks festivals. One of the largest of its kind, the festival features beautiful fireworks shows along with music and stories. This event is not only a spectacle of colorful light but also a contest. Fireworks teams from all over Japan descend on the festival to try to outdo each other.
Yokote is home to the famous Yokote Snow Festival , a 450-year-old celebration held every year in February when igloo-like snow huts called kamakura, are built all over the city. There are over 100 kamakura scattered around the city and most of them are hosted by children. It is said that the Yokote Kamakura Festival is a result of two ancient traditions. The first comes from the locals burning the New Year decorations as a way to return something to the gods. The second is based on the children who used to scare away the birds from the crops to prevent damage. The locals believe that children who become hosts in the kamakura will please the water deity.
Inside each kamakura is a small snow altar dedicated to the water deity as well as a brazier used to store hot coals and keep the snow hut warm. During the festival season children offer rice cakes and amazake (sweet rice wine) to festival visitors, and in return visitors make an offering to the water deity.
When the weather gets warmer, the festivities heat up too. Held each summer, the Omagari Fireworks Festival sees almost 800,000 spectators swarm to the area to witness one of Japan's most impressive fireworks festivals. One of the largest of its kind, the festival features beautiful fireworks shows along with music and stories. This event is not only a spectacle of colorful light but also a contest. Fireworks teams from all over Japan descend on the festival to try to outdo each other.
