PREVIEW

Participants balance bamboo poles adorned with paper lanterns (kanto) on their hands during the Akita Kanto Festival in Akita City. The annual event is one of the Tohoku region's three great festivals, where street performers skillfully balance over 270 towering bamboo poles (with the largest measuring 12 meters and weighing 50 kilograms) adorned with up to 46 candle-lit paper lanterns on their hands, shoulders, and foreheads to the rhythmic chant of 'dokkoisho.' The festival runs from August 3 to 6