Aomori Nebuta Matsuri

Warrior lanterns nine metres wide and five metres high light up in the night, fierce-eyed and bristling with swords, and are pushed by dozens of men into the crowd; around them thousands of haneto in flower-hat yukata dance to taiko and flutes, shouting "Rassera!" Aomori's Nebuta Matsuri is the most blazing carnival of light of the Tohoku summer.