Kobe Neputa” on Display at Kobe City Hall “Kobe Neputa” Operated at Hirosaki Neputa Festival

　The “Kobe Neputa” from the Kobe x Hirosaki Neputa Production and Operation Project is currently on display at Kobe City Hall (6 Kano-machi, Chuo-ku, Kobe City).

Kobe Neputa” in operation at the Hirosaki Neputa Festival 2024

　The neputa, created on the theme of “Kobe” by five local creators selected from a public competition as part of Kobe City’s intercity promotion with Hirosaki City, was actually put into operation at the Hirosaki Neputa Festival 2024 held on August 1 and 2 this year. It left Hirosaki City on August 8 after the festival and made its triumphant return to Kobe City on August 9, and was on display to the public from August 10 in the first floor lobby of Kobe City Hall Building No. 1.

　Five creators shared the work of making the neputa, and under the guidance of renowned neputa painter Donryu Miura, they painted the front side, called “Kagami-e,” with a dragon and the military commander “Tomomori Taira,” who is also associated with Kobe, and the rear side, called “Mikagi-e” and “Sode-e,” with a background of hydrangea, the city flower, and a dragon on a background of “Kenreimonin,” a famous temple in the city of Kobe. On the back side of the painting, called the “Sode-e,” he painted “Kenreimonin” against a backdrop of hydrangeas, the city flower.

　One of the creators, Roka Hagiwara, a fourth-year student at Kwansei Gakuin University, said, “It was a new challenge for me to paint in a different way and with different materials than usual, and it was fun for the five of us to share the work and create a single picture together. One of the creators, Mochinami Morita, assistant professor at Osaka University of Human Sciences, said, “It was an honor to be able to paint a picture of a traditional local festival by ourselves. We would like to continue to be involved in some way in the future,” she smiles.

　The exhibition at Kobe City Hall will run until September 9. After that, the exhibition will move to Kobe Fashion Mart (6 Koyo-cho, Higashinada-ku, Kobe).