Hirosaki's picture frame and art materials specialty store "Pacific Art Studio" (Tomida, Hirosaki, TEL 0172-32-3590) started selling Neputa picture material set "Neputa picture start set" for beginners on November 29.

This product is a set of 8 points of painting materials such as powder dye of 14 colors, Japanese paper, thick ink, brush and brush. According to staff Yuki Saito, it was devised because many customers who were new to the Neputa picture production were uncertain about which tools to prepare and often consulted. "Since we have a complete set of tools to complete it, we can save the trouble of buying additional art supplies," he said.

Founded in 1952 (Showa 27), the store offers a wide range of products such as picture frames, watercolor paints and colored pencils, painting materials for comics, and Western and Japanese painting materials. Neputa picture production materials are available all year round, and it is said that there are orders from the prefecture as well as from outside the prefecture.

Saito says, “In recent years, there are more inquiries from outside the prefecture than there are because there are more opportunities to operate Neputa and Nebuta outside the prefecture.”

It took some time to select the brushes to put in the start set. "Unlike the original Neputa picture, I chose the size of the brush on the assumption that it will be drawn on the size of the half-paper included in the package. There was no time to start choosing and I had a hard time drawing. I decided to include a brush for drawing wax,” said Saito. "We tried to put everything in a box that can be mailed in 60 size," he said.

Saito says with a smile, "If you're interested in Neputa paintings but don't know what to buy, I would definitely recommend it. It will give you a chance to know the deep world of Neputa paintings."

The price is 7,100 yen. A limited set of 3 postcards from Hirosaki Neputa, Aomori Nebuta, and Goshogawara Tatetake Takeda's picture postcards are also included.