Fan-Shaped Large Lanterns Glow In Japan Festival

HOKKAIDO, JAPAN – JUL. 25: Floats of large lanterns with the drawings of ancient beauties and warriors glowed mysteriously at a festival in Shari, Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of Japan. The custom of summer lantern parade came from Hirosaki, Aomori prefecture to commemorate the services of Hirosaki samurais during the late Tokugawa Shogunate era, in the 19th century. They were dispatched to Shari as northern border guards to face Imperial Russia but many of them had to die in the severe winter weather up here.