Snow Homes!!

The Yokote Snow Festival is held in the middle of February every year in the city of Yokote in Akita prefecture. They feature making Kamakura; the local name for a hut made of snow. There are several events at various locations around building and staying in the Kamakuras. In each Kamakura is a small shrine dedicated to the god of water. There is also an event with a Bonden, a huge mystic circle made out rope and hay, which is ritualistically carried across the snow in a parade. It looks fun!

Yokote Snow Festival Origins and Traditions

Roughly four hundred and fifty years ago the samurai in the town and merchants began their own traditions. The town samurai would make a square wall of snow and place kadomatsu (traditional Japanese new year decoration of three cut bamboo stalks standing up with pine needles around the base) and shimenawa (rope of braded grass or rice stalk with three pieces of folded paper hanging down representing lightening) placed inside along with sacred sake and rice cakes. They are burned in a ceremony with prayers for the healthy growth of children. The merchants made a kind of hole beside their wells and enshrine the god of water (Oshizu no Kami). They would pray for safe healthy water that year. It seems there is also a trational play of children of tunneling down into the accumulated snow.

The Yokote Kamakura Tourism Begins

A german architect visited Yokote in 1933 and was amazed at the beauty of the kamakura on a full moon night while children told their futures by reading their shadows on the snow. After WWII the fame of the Yokote Kamakura spread and people in search of some fun in the winter time began to visit. In 1952 the Kamakura were wrapped up along with Bonten to make a snow festival. Gradually interest and traffic increased. In 1971 Kamakura Street was established for the tourists and the modern Yokote Snow Festival was established. There are still privately made Kamakura being made, but if you visit Yokote please respect people’s personal boundaries and enjoy the wonderful Kamakura on offer.

References

In English

https://www-yokotekamakura-com.translate.goog/event/3-5/?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

https://www-city-yokote-lg-jp.translate.goog/kanko/1004035/1004590.html?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/443/

https://matcha-jp.com/en/3856

In Japanese

https://www.city.yokote.lg.jp/kanko/1004035/1004590.html

https://www.yokotekamakura.com/event/3-5/

https://www.yokotekamakura.com/01_event/04_winter/kamakura_kaisai.html

https://www.city.yokote.lg.jp/kanko/page300122.html

Photo thanks to @ https://www.yokotekamakura.com/.