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Akita City has the most beautiful seasonal changes during the
year. In spring, Senshu Park, with the ruins of the castle of the Satake family
, is full of cherry blossoms and azaleas.
In summer, you can enjoy the
magnificent view of gigantic columns of clouds standing up over the Japan Sea.
In autumn, Mt. Taihei becomes a beautiful rainbow of colors.
And then, in
winter, everything is covered with pure white snow, and the air is so clear
everywhere.
Besides such wonderful nature, there are many other things that
one can see, do and eat that are unique to Akita. For example, in the Hirano Art
Museum, you can see the 'Akita no Gyoji' (The Events in Akita), the largest
canvas painting in the world, painted by Tsuguji Fujita (1886-1968).
Senshu
Art Museum has the works of Kenzo Okada in mysterious profundity as well as
'Akita-Ranga', unusual works among Japanese paintings.
Kanto Festival is the
pride of the Akita people and is well known even outside Japan. Truly, there are
many places to see that are very unique to Akita.
Akita prefecture also has
many distinctive local foods. Not to be missed!
It is said that "One picture
is worth a thousand words" and "Seeing is believing," So please come over and
discover the good things of Akita with your own eyes.
You may find charms of
Akita that even we haven't discoverd yet!
The history of the Kanto Festival
The Kanto Festival (a national important intangible folk culturalheritage)
originates from the Horyaku period (1751-63). It was the ceremony ofprayer for
good harvests and purification and is connected with the oldceremony of
Neburinasgahi, in which people purified and protected themselves from evil
spirits. Since then, people in the Kubota castle town of Akita clancarried on
the event. It was named "Kanto" in 1881 (Meiji 14). It comes fromthe biography
about the visit of the Meiji Emperor. The Kanto festival hasbeen the event that
expresses the culture and customs of the local people ofthe Akita clan for about
250 years. Nowadays lots of people visit Akita fromeverywhere, even abroad, to
enjoy this summer festival of Akita.
Senshu Park 5 minutes walk from
Akita Station
The park was once the castle of Satake
clan of Akita. Cherry blossoms and Azaleas in the Spring, and Lotus flowers on
the moat in early summers to entertain people passing by. Also, historic
treasures as the statue of Yoshiaki Satake ,the twelfth lord, a room for tea
ceremony, and Ohchozubachi, a big basin are seen in the park.
Osumiyagura turret(museum
inside)
(Osumiyagura "castle" watch tower in Senshu
Park) was reconstructed as the memento of the 100th anniversary of Akita
becoming a city. Historical documents are exhibited inside and you can view the
whole city from its observatory.
Monument to Taro Shoji
Osumiyagura
castle watch tower was built as a memento of Taro Shoji who was one of the
greatest composers of Japanese popular music in the Showa period.
When people
stand in front of it, his famous songs, such as 'Kokkyo no machi' (a border
town), can be heard.
The remains of Akita Castle / The East
Gate
15 minutes from Akita Station by
car
The east gate of Akita Castle was restored using
the way it was constructed in 733 as the farthest north protection of Yamato
Dynasty. The depository of excavations from the site of Akita Castle nearby can
be visited by appointment.
Hodadera Temple
The oldest temple of
the Sodo sect in Akita. It is the temple of the Akita family who was the lord
before the Satake family. It is said that Fujifusa Fujiwara was the second chief
priest. He was a famous figure in the Northern and Southern Courts
period. |
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