Utou-jinja

When you think of the “snowiest city in the world,” you probably imagine a city in Canada, Russia, or Iceland. But actually, the world champion of snow is a place in Japan: Aomori City, located at the northern tip of Japan's main island.

On the day of the festival, the haneto (nebuta dancers) dress in colorful costumes and begin their festival chants. Chants of “Rassera, Rassera” echo through the streets of Aomori. With musical performances by hayashi performers,, the festival begins to reach its peak.

The name Aomori (青森 ) is composed of the components ao (青 ) "blue", "green", and mori (森 ) "forest", "woods", and can be literally translated as "green forest".

A ""Jinja"" is the place to pay respects to the Kami-sama that live in every corner of every region of Japan, and is the current place that each region's form of ""Shinto"" is still alive and cherished.