Tanabata Edoro Lantern Festival

The Tanabata Edoro Lantern Festival is a tradition of roughly 300 years held August 5–7 in central Yuzawa, Akita. It is said to have begun when a princess who married into Yuzawa from Kyoto hung tanzaku strips in longing for the capital; households decorate green bamboo with five-colored strips and streamers. Its highlight is the more than one hundred painted 'edoro' lanterns adorned with ukiyo-e images of beautiful women. As dusk falls and they are all lit at once, the beauties emerge in the soft glow, turning the whole town into a magical nightless city.