Mar 10, 2015 - 1 min read

Guan Yu Altar at Chinese New Year

Lantern Festival at Shinchi Chinatown in Nagasaki

By Masayoshi Hirose

Community writer

Translated by Takako Sakamoto

Community writer

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

Despite the unfortunate rain, flickering lights warmed my heart

Red red red everywhere!

Look up to find gentle lights wrapping around us

There is a totally different world stretching ahead on the other side of the round window

Nagasaki Lantern Festival. I'd never seen these lanterns lit up before.

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

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

A pavilion. Most of the streets are one-way.

A festival of light and beauty

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

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Masayoshi Hirose

By Masayoshi Hirose

Community writer

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Takako Sakamoto

Translated by Takako Sakamoto

Community writer

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