Yonekawa Mizukaburi Photo Contest

MARCH 31, 2020
Yonekawa Mizukaburi Photo Contest

In early February 2020, I attended a special traditional festival called ‘Yonekawa Mizukaburi.’ What makes it special is that recently the festival has been designated as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage event. And for that, the organizers have been trying to popularize the festival, which is said to have originally begun over 800 years ago, as a major tourist attraction in Miyagi prefecture.

And coincidentally, they also held a photo contest, of which I entered with 2 entries and ended up winning the runner-up and participation prizes through both of my submissions. Words could not describe how happy I was to receive the news. Note: as of March 31st, perhaps due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the winning entries are not publicized yet on the official Yonekawa town website.

So here’s the winning shot for the runner-up prize, titled 【絆 】 (meaning “bond or connection”).

And here’s the other entry that got the participation prize, titled【決心】(meaning “determination”).

By far, this was the most fun festival I have ever seen so I will write up the details of my experience in a separate blog article coming soon. Stay tuned!

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About the Author

Jerfareza Daviano | Photographer in Sendai, Japan

Jerfareza Daviano

Jerfareza is a weekend freelance photographer based in Sendai, Japan. He's specializing in portrait photography, family & couple photography, and street & travel photography. Should you wish to hire him you can do so by visiting his website.

He won grand prize in architecture category of Sendai Starlight Festival 2018 Photo Contest.

Visit his photo portfolio for articles about travel in Japan especially Tohoku area and photography related stuffs.