Wednesday, February 5, 2003

Samurai

Nebuta Aomory city float, British Museum, London

‘Nebuta’ Aomory city float
British Museum
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury
London, January 2002

“‘Nebuta’ refers to the float of a brave warrior-figure which is carried through the center of the city, while dancers wearing a unique type of costume called haneto (ハネト) dance around in time with the chant Rasserā (ラッセラー) (shorten dialectal version of ‘irasshai’, calling visitors and customers to watch or join). In the local dialect, participation in the festival is inquired using the verb haneru (ハネル, ex. ‘今日もハネル?’ or ‘Are you going to haneru today?’), which was derived from the Japanese spelling of the haneto costume and the verb haneru (跳ねる, ‘bounce’).” (Aomori Nebuta Matsuri, Wikipedia)

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