Alongside Sendai’s Tanabata Festival and Aomori’s Nebuta Festival, Akita’s Kanto Matsuri is known as one of the three great festivals in the Tohoku region. For an evening of impressive performances that light up the night, make your way to Akita from August 3-6. Festival HistoryThe origins of the Akita Kanto Matsuri lay in the middle of the Edo period (1603-1868). One of the earliest mentions of the celebration comes at the end of the 18th century in a document describing the festival’s connection to bountiful harvests and artistic production. Today, the Akita Kanto Matsuri takes place on a on…