Guan Yu Altar at Chinese New Year

Lantern Festival at Shinchi Chinatown in Nagasaki

Takako Sakamoto Mar 10, 2015 - 1 min read

<p>Famous altar of Guan Yu at Minato-koen Park. I was flabbergasted to see peculiar gifts offered at the altar!</p>

<p>Despite the unfortunate rain, flickering lights warmed my heart</p>

<p>Look up to find gentle lights wrapping around us</p>

<p>There is a totally different world stretching ahead on the other side of the round window</p>

<p>Nagasaki Lantern Festival. I'd never seen these lanterns lit up before.</p>

<p>Come to think of it, it's rare to see lit lanterns these days except for a special occasion like this</p>

<p>There are many photographers here and if you don't pay attention some of them will be in your photos, to your dismay!</p>

<p>A pavilion. Most of the streets are one-way.</p>

On February 21st in 2015, I traveled to Nagasaki to see Nagasaki Lantern Festival. I had wanted to see this famous winter festival in Nagasaki for so long and at last my wish was fulfilled! First, I headed for Minato-koen Park in Shinchi Chinatown, which is the main venue of the festival. I lit an incense stick and prayed at the altar of Guan Yu, the hero of 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms', a famous Chinese novel. Unfortunately a cold rain was falling incessantly, but it made the wet lanterns cast gleaming, brilliant lights. What a gorgeous festival of lights this is!

Nagasaki Lantern Festival Series

Takako Sakamoto @takako.sakamoto

I was born in and grew up in Tokushima prefecture, and have lived in many places since then: Nishinomiya, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Fukuoka and Fukui. I am currently living in Yokohama City. All the places I lived, all the places I visited, I have loved dearly. The histor...