Hirosaki's Neputa artist, Yudai Nomura, is currently delivering Neputa papercraft data.

The "Hirosaki Neputa" designated as a national important intangible folk cultural property is centered around a fan-shaped float, and features a historical figure and a storyteller on the fan. Every year, from August 1st to 7th, a festival is held around the flute and drums, and the festival is announced on April 15th due to the new coronavirus.

Neputa papercraft data is stored in the cloud and can be downloaded for free. “It can be printed and completed in about 30 minutes. The only thing to prepare is scissors and glue,” says Nomura.

Nomura is currently a young Neputa artist who is a second year member of society. It was in 2016 when I was a student that I drew Neputa from my childhood and debuted as a Neputa artist. The data for Neputa coloring book was released in the middle of March. Mr. Nomura smiled, "I thought that the school would be closed and the children would be bored. There are many children who like Neputa in Hirosaki."

The paper craft was called by Shinichiro Kiyoto, a Hirosaki University student who was the creator of the Hirosaki City unofficial local hero "Festival General Yayadon". “On April 5, Mr. Kiyoto contacted me to do paper craft. Since I was thinking about the same thing, I cooperated with two replies,” Nomura said.

Yayadon's paper craft will be delivered on April 8th. For this project, Mr. Nomura drew two mirror paintings of Neputa, send-off paintings, and three sleeve paintings, and started distribution from April 15. Nomura says, "It happened to coincide with the day when the cancellation of the Hirosaki Neputa Festival was announced."

At the same time as the distribution, when I called for a transmission method such as the hash tag "# Ome de Neputa", some users said that they made it on SNS. It is revealed that young Neputa painters who send their own paper crafts have also appeared.

Mr. Nomura said, "Let's let not only bored children but also people who are depressed because the Hirosaki Neputa Festival has been canceled and people who live outside the prefecture feel a local festival at home."

The papercraft data will be announced on SNS such as Mr. Nomura's Twitter.