Paper balloon raising in Kamihinokinai (Senboku City, Akita Prefecture)

This is an annual event in which giant paper balloons decorated with pictures of warriors and beautiful women and lit with lights dance in the midwinter night sky like twinkling stars.
There is no written record of the beginning of this event. Legend has it that Hiraga Gennai, a scientist of the Edo period, introduced the event as a game based on the principles of hot-air balloons when he visited the copper mine for technical guidance.
In the past, it was held at the same time as “Mushiyaki,” a ceremony to pray for a good harvest and family safety (rice straw was piled up and set on fire in the rice field, also called Dondonyaki or Tenbushi), and is positioned as a heritage of folk belief.
This event, which was suspended for a time during the war, was revived in Miyata in 1974 thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of local volunteers in Kami-Hinokinae, and has become a representative winter tradition in Akita Prefecture.
*Date of the festival is February 10 every year.