石崎奉燈祭に行きました！

8月1日（土曜日）に七尾市の石崎町で奉燈祭がありました。市民の皆さんはよくご存じだと思いますが、着任したばかりの私は初めて知りました。七尾市について学んでいる中で、親切な市役所の皆さんがこのお祭りに連れて行ってくれました。凄く感謝しています！一生忘れられない経験になりました。
私は2025年8月1日まで日本に留学していたので、お祭りの日はちょうどその日から1年が経った日でした！日本の8月を経験したことがないので、夏祭りはだいたい行きそびれてしまっていました。とても楽しい経験になった上に、大変勉強になりました！

六基の奉燈は一基ずつ100人で担いでいます。奉燈の重さを知らない人は多すぎだと思うかもしれませんが、一基あたりの重量が2トンにもなるそうです！100人がそのように重い物を担げることに「凄く力強い！」と思いました。来年、私が担ぎに参加したかったら、ジムにもう一度通わないといけませんね。
奉燈の重さについても勉強になりましたが、担いでいた人々についても勉強になりました。六基はそれぞれ異なる六つの地区の奉燈です。地区は東一区から四区と西一区と二区です。担いでいる人々は、地区ごとの色のズボンも履いています。東一区は緑色、二区は黄色、三区は赤色、四区は青色、そして西一区は白色、二区は桃色です。文字で読むと覚えづらそうですが、直接見たらとても楽しい雰囲気を味わえました。今後も他のお祭りを見に行くのを楽しみにしています！参加できるお祭りも待望しています！

On Saturday last weekend, the Houtou Festival was celebrated in a town close to Nanao called Ishizaki. People that have been living in this region are likely to know of it, but I hadn’t heard of it until about two days ago. I have only just recently arrived in Nanao and still have a lot to learn about the city, but my kind coworkers at the Town Hall informed me about the festival and brought me along with them to see it. I’m very thankful! It became an experience I’ll remember forever.
The last time I came to Japan was for my study abroad, which ended on August 1st of 2025, which makes the day of last week’s festival the one-year anniversary of the end of my study! And because I have never experienced August in Japan, I missed out on most of the summer festivals. On top of being a very fun experience, I also learned a lot!

Each of the six Houtou pillars is carried by 100 people. People who don’t know much about the festival might think that this is overkill, but each of the Houtou weighs two tons! For just 100 people to be carrying something that heavy, I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, they are super strong!” If I wanted to participate in carrying the Houtou next year, I had better get back in the gym.
Besides just the weight of the Houtou, I also learned about the people carrying them. Among the six Houtou, there is one representing each of six different regions. Those are East districts one through four, West district 1, and West District 2. The people carrying each Houtou wear different-colored pants corresponding to the district they represent. East district 1 is green, district 2 is yellow, district 3 is red, and district 4 is blue, then West district 1 is white, and district two is pink. Just reading them as a list like this might make you think it’s hard to remember, but when you see it in person it creates a very fun atmosphere!  I’m looking forward to seeing other festivals here! And I hope there are even some I could participate in!

Vocab List: 語彙一覧
region: (noun・名詞) 地域
represent: (verb・動詞)表示する
corresponding: (adjective・形容詞) 応答
atmosphere: (noun・名詞)雰囲気
participate: (verb・動詞)参加する