In my hometown Hinokage , a beautiful event is held at the end of February. It is called Takekage Hinamatsuri. Lots of bamboo lanterns and small dolls are decorated at the event site.
今年は2月29日午後6時からです。
29th Feb. 6:00p.m.~
These are Takekage, these bamboo lanterns are made from bamboo thinnings. It started 7years ago.
Hinokage Forest Office manages mountains and forests. There are huge bamboo forests, they have to cut many bamboos every year. It was a huge problem. They did not know how to cope with the bamboo thinnings. Those were useless, but now thinnings became beautiful lanterns. Some people buy them for souvenir.
He decided to show his daughter’s hina ningyou (special dolls for girls festival) to everybody at a vacant shop. (You can find a lot of vacant stores and houses in Hinokage. They suffer from depopulation. )
Fukuda san wanted to encourage Hinokage and wanted to draw in tourists. At the beginning of the event, he decorated his daughter’s and neighbor’s dolls. Now, there are over 600 dolls.
今年はこのひな人形展示と竹灯篭だけでなく、スカイランタンを浮かべるという企画が出ています。
And the staff of the event, they have another plan. It is the Sky Lantern plan.
夜空に浮かぶ暖かい光のスカイランタン! 本来は火を使った小さな熱気球を飛ばすのだそうです。
A sky lantern is a small hot-air balloon. Usually it flies above big rivers or near the seashore. They use candles to create hot air.
But, Hinokage is located deep in the mountains. Hot-air lanterns with candles can potentially cause mountain fires. In Hinokage, they use LED lamps, helium gas, and long lope to fix the lanterns. The staff of the event will collect the lanterns after the event. It is a good system not to make any trash, eco friendly.