Glossary for 'The Too Emotional Mystery Nebuta'

After seeing the sub-theme for #WeeklyShortShortNote, I felt so excited that I ended up using two terms that only locals would understand.

Since I've already used a dialect, I'll add this just in case... 'Jawamegu' is a Tsugaru dialect term that means 'my blood is racing' or 'to be stirred with excitement'.

1. Wax Writing (Rogaki)

It seems there are 10 steps in the Nebuta production process, and the 8th step is 'Wax writing'. To finish a Nebuta with a sense of dynamism, you establish the basic form with the preceding 'ink writing' (essentially outlining), but wax writing plays the role of highlighting brightness.

Twitter X, I described it as 'a draft of the pattern', but this is because it has the effect of preventing paint from bleeding, allowing each individual color to have a sense of dynamism.
The application of color is done in the next step, 'coloring' (painting), and it takes about two weeks to complete the main body.

There was a video of Nebuta master Hiroo Takenami performing the process from ink writing to wax writing. The scene at 1:16 is the easiest to understand.

2. Regional Nebuta

The nationally famous Nebuta seems to be considered the 'main festival'. I say 'seems to be' because I've never seen anyone call it that.
Embarrassingly, I only recently learned that the culture of 'regional Nebuta' exists. They were running their own Nebuta around the university, but I just assumed it was something being done as part of the university's regional collaboration initiatives.

Regardless, the Nebuta done by neighborhood associations is just as powerful as the main festival.

Although it has a more intimate feel, you can tell that the whole region is getting stirred up together. By the way, regional Nebuta are held on a schedule that avoids the main festival (August 2nd–7th). Some early places even start in July. Of course, some regions do it in August as well.
Strangely enough, if you can't make it to the main festival, you can enjoy the regional Nebuta instead. So, personally, I think if you can't see the national one, you should just go see the local one.

Afterword

The fact that I'm participating so eagerly just because the theme is Nebuta made me realize once again that I really am a resident of Aomori Prefecture.

Everyone, let's watch Nebuta next summer!