How a Nebuta float is made

The gigantic paper-made Nebuta floats made for the famous Aomori Nebuta Matsuri festival are fascinating artworks, created by dedicated people through a lot of passionate work. In today's photo, taken inside the Warasse Nebuta Museum in Aomori, you can see all the stages of the construction of a Nebuta float.

After the project is drawn, the first step is building a wooden frame that will give the structural strength of the float. On the frame, the detailed skeleton of the float is made with wire, and the lighting system is installed inside. Then, the paper is carefully applied and glued on the wire skeleton. On some portions paraffin is applied, to make the paper shiny and prevent ink leakage. And only then, the final stage, the painting, can begin.