023.ねぶた 01.青森ねぶた
023.Nebuta 01.Aomori Nebuta (Japan)

８月の最初の一週間、青森の町は、ねぶた一色。コロナ禍前、会期中に訪れる観光客は300万人に、ねぶたに参加する組のメンバーが、大きな組では数百人という巨大なお祭り。訪れた2011年には、大企業や組織が主宰する大型ねぶたが22組、町内会や子供会、高校などが主宰する中規模、小規模なねぶたが19組でした。

During one week at the beginning of August, the delight of Nebuta fills Aomori city. Before Covid 19, tourists more than 3 million visit this big festival, and performing teams have hundreds of members for each one at maximum. In 2011 when I visited, 22 large-scale nebuta floats sponsored by large companies and organizations, and 19 medium-sized and small-scale nebuta floats sponsored by neighborhood associations, children's associations, and high schools participated.

午後７時、明るさの残る空の下、祭りが開始。先頭は、囃子方。笛の調べは、どことなく哀調がありますが、太鼓とじゃんがらの刻むリズムが、切れがよいので、かなり力強く響きます。次に登場するのが、真打ちの山車。歌舞伎や故事に因む造形が、暗くなるに連れて、生命を吹き込まれたように、活き活きと浮かび上がります。県庁所在地ゆえ、支店を置く企業の支援も盛んで、軽鉄や木材、竹、針金を組んで複雑な型に、厚めの和紙を張った大型のねぶたの費用は、１台2000万円という話。

もっとも迫力を感じたのが、その山車が、男衆に引かれ、猛スピードで、客席に向かって、走ってくる瞬間。重さ４トンのねぶたを、20人ほどで引くのは、ただでさえ大仕事なのに、幅員が30m近くある国道の車道際から、反対側の際まで、斜めに突進し、客席にぶつかる直前で、ふんばってねぶたを停止させたかと思うと、一息付く間もなく、90度方向転換して、また、反対側の際に向かって行くから、片道45mの短距離走の繰り返し。

巨大な山車と男衆のスピードが、すごい勢いで、客席に飛び込むように向かって来るのを、真っ正面に立って受け止めるだけでも、アドレナリンが上昇しますが、歩道に張られたロープの直前で、ぎりぎりで山車が急停止した瞬間、彼らのとてつもないエネルギーが、勢い余って、客席で見ている観衆に降り掛かって来て、こちらまでエネルギーに満たされます。元気をいただくとは、このこと。

最後が「ラッセーラー」の掛け声でおなじみのハネト。頭に鮮やかな花笠をかぶり、浴衣から青い腰巻をのぞかせた一団が、片足跳びではね狂います。振付は難しくなく、とにかく、エネルギーを放出するための踊り。

厳しく長い冬の続く青森に、暗いイメージを重ねがちですが、ねぶたに先入観を改めます。第二次世界大戦後の明るく自由な社会の象徴だった映画「青い山脈」の舞台も青森だから、青森とは、実は「陽」の地であり、長い冬に閉じこめられた「陽」が表に出ると、とてつもないパワーになるのかもしれません。

昔は、高さを競った時期もあった青森ねぶたですが、現在は、信号や電線の下をくぐり抜ける高さに抑え、水平方向の最大幅９ｍは、本番の巡行ルートの大通りではなく、巡行後、ねぐらに戻る一般道の電信柱間の寸法によるもの。都市景観が、ねぶたの高さや幅を規定していました。ただし、制限寸法一杯までつくりたくなるのが人情で、わずかなずれで通り抜けに失敗し、腕がもげたねぶたも目撃しました。

At 7:00 p.m., a festival started under the sky where brightness remained. The lead of each team was a group of musical accompaniment. The melody of the flute plays a pity tone. But, since the rhythm, which drums and the Jangara beat, was well articulated, the whole tune sounded quite forcefully. 

Appearing in the next was a float as the main performance. As it became darker, the form with a theme based on the Kabuki or a historical fact became vivid and brought to life. The location of the prefectural capital enabled the support of companies that placed a branch. Therefore, the cost of a big float of the Aomori Nebuta was said to be 20 million Japanese yen per set, and the frame by the combination of light steel, wood, bamboo and wire forms a complicated model covered with Japanese paper.

At the moment when a Nebuta float pulled to the menfolk has run toward spectators at full speed, I felt the strength most. Pulling a 4-ton of float was a big task for about 20 persons, and they dashed aslant from one side to the other side of a wide street. Just before colliding against spectator seats, they braced their legs to stop the float, and soon, without taking breath, they changed the course 90 degrees and went to the opposite side. It was a repetition of the short-distance running of 45 meters.

By a float and the menfolk that were coming to the spectator seats at full speed so that those might be about to jump into them, the adrenalin of  spectators went up. At the moment when the float carried out the quick stop just before the rope stretched on the sidewalk, their absurd energy with excessive force got down to the spectators on the seat. They filled with energy. That gave vigor to them.

At last, the Haneto (that means jumping people), whose shout of "Rasserah” is familiar, appeared. They hopped madly on one leg with the vivid flower hat on the head and the blue underskirt under the summer kimono. The dance is not difficult but discharges energy.

Aomori, where a severe and long winter continues, gives a dark impression, but the strength of the Aomori Nebuta corrected my prejudice. Aomori was also the stage of the famous movie "Aoi Sanmyaku (Blue Mountain Range) ”, which became a symbol of a bright and free society brought with the end of World War II. So, Aomori may be a brilliant place where the brilliance shut up during the long winter reappears with tremendous power.

Once the Aomori Nebuta floats had emphasized height. The present floats were produced with the height possible to pass under the signal and electric wire without operation. Meanwhile, a horizontal spread with 9-meter was defined not by the width of wide streets as the parade route but the width between the electric poles on both sides of a road which a float passes to return to a warehouse. The townscape decided the height and the width of Aomori Nebuta floats. However, a human wants to build to the maximum size. I witnessed that a float could not pass through between the electric poles at a return path with a slight deviation, and the arm of Nebuta came off.

ご感想はこちらへ / Click here for your impressions

もっと詳しく → 青森のお祭り：青森ねぶた - 1（青森、青森、日本）
もっと詳しく → 青森のお祭り：青森ねぶた - 2（青森、青森、日本）
When you want to know more → Traditional Festivals in Aomori : Aomori Nebuta - 1
(Aomori city, Aomori, Japan)
When you want to know more → Traditional Festivals in Aomori : Aomori Nebuta - 2
(Aomori city, Aomori, Japan)

参考文献 / reference
"青森県の歴史散歩" (青森県高等学校地方史研究会編, 山川出版社, 2007)
"図説青森県の歴史" (成田稔･長谷川成一, 河出書房新社, 1991)
"弘前ねぷた速報ガイド2011" (路上社, 2011)
青森ねぶたオフィシャルサイト
Wikipedia

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