Monday, February 6, 2023
The 2nd Hokuryu Town Ice Candle Festival 2023 was held in front of Hokuryu Junior High School on Thursday, February 2nd, and on the grounds of Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen from Saturday, February 4th to Sunday, February 5th, with 300 ice candles illuminating the winter night with a fantastic glow.
- 1 2nd Hokuryu Town Ice Candle Festival 2023, Organizers
- 2 Ice candles decorating the gate of Hokuryu Junior High School
- 3 Many people in Hokuryu Town cooperated
- 4 A talk by local revitalization volunteers Nobuyuki Murakami and Yui Sasaki
- 5 Children enjoying playing in the snow, lighting ice candles, and making snowmen
- 6 Candle lighting
- 7 People enjoying the lights of the ice candles decorating the venue
- 8 YouTube videos
- 9 Other photos
- 10 Related articles
2nd Hokuryu Town Ice Candle Festival 2023, Organizers
- Organizer:Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen
- plan:Hokuryu Town Regional Revitalization Cooperation Volunteers Nobuyuki Murakami and Yui Sasaki
- cooperation:Hokuryu Junior High School, Kotokuji Temple, Seiunji Temple, Zenrinji Temple, Hokoji Temple, Ryusenji Temple
- Sponsored by:Hokuryu Town Chamber of Commerce and Industry Youth Division, Ryutopia
- Gifts of sweets to children(Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen only)
- Sweet soup gift(First 100 people per day, Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen only)
Ice candles decorating the gate of Hokuryu Junior High School
Prior to the event being held in the square in front of Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen, on Thursday, February 2nd, in the midst of a heavy snowstorm, all 38 students of Hokuryu Junior High School (Principal Tsuyoshi Kodama) lined up and lit ice candles in front of the school gates!
"Making the ice candles was hard work, but arranging them in this blizzard was even tougher!" said the sturdy students.
Approximately 70 ice candles, which were made over several days, will be transported to Hokuryu Onsen on both the 4th and 5th, where they will light up the winter venue.
Many people in Hokuryu Town cooperated
The project was organized by Hokuryu Town Regional Revitalization Cooperation Team members Murakami Nobuyuki and Sasaki Yui.
This was a heartfelt event held with the cooperation of many local residents, including all 38 students of Kitaryu Junior High School, five local temples (Kotoku-ji Temple, Seiunji Temple, Zenrin-ji Temple, Hoko-ji Temple, and Ryusen-ji Temple), the Kitaryu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Youth Division, and Ryutopia.
In addition, at Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen, before the candles were lit, sweet red bean soup was given to the first 100 people each day, and candy was given to children.
The venue was decorated with 300 lit ice candles, a giant snow sculpture of a rabbit created by members of Ryutopia in reference to the zodiac sign of the year, elegant frozen flowers created by Yumi Komatsu, unique frozen jeans, and ice art icicles.
Giant rabbit snow sculpture produced by Ryutopia
The giant rabbit snow sculpture, created by five or six members of Hokuryu Town volunteer group Ryutopia, is an explosion of Hokuryu senior power!!!
Frozen Jeans
A unique piece of snow art created by freezing the townspeople's jeans!
An elegant frozen flower arrangement created by Yumi Komatsu!
Icicle art is hard to find and difficult to find all over town!
Free distribution of sweet red bean soup and sweets
Ryutopia staff providing and helping out with the sweet red bean soup
Delicious sweet red bean soup with mochi!
They distributed the treats to everyone, gently warning them, "They're hot, so be careful not to choke on them!"
A talk by local revitalization volunteers Nobuyuki Murakami and Yui Sasaki
❂ Nobuyuki Murakami:"This year, we were able to hold the event thanks to the cooperation of many townspeople (students from Hokuryu Junior High School, the Hokuryu Town Chamber of Commerce and Industry Youth Division, members of Ryutopia, local temples, etc.).
I was amazed at how magnificent the rabbit snow sculpture created by the people at Ryutopia was, beyond my imagination.
With the help of the members of the Hokuryu Kendama Club, who lit the ice candles, we were able to encourage the children to actively participate.
The sweet red bean soup was provided by Ryutopia, who did a great job making the delicious sweet red bean soup.
We hope that as many townspeople as possible will participate and enjoy the event.
For this event, we made about 300 ice candles. We started preparing about three weeks in advance, visiting each of the organizations that cooperated with us and explaining how to make them in person. This turned out to be a lot more difficult than we expected.
We prepared 100 buckets and distributed several dozen to each organization. We explained how to make ice by filling the buckets with water, leaving them for one to two days, then turning the ice-covered buckets upside down and poking holes in the bottom with an ice pick.
At Hokuryu Junior High School, all 38 students made two pieces each.
Each temple in the town donated candles. We cut the long candles into thirds and made about 500 shorter candles. The stands to hold the candles were handmade by cutting plywood into squares and inserting nails. Each step was quite difficult.
"As for my future plans, I will leave the planning and running of the entire event to Sasaki Yui, and I will just help out. In the future, I would like each household to make ice candles and place them in front of their entrances, so that the whole town will be lit up with ice candle light," says Murakami.
❂ Yui Sasaki:"This was my first time taking on the challenge this year, so I was excited to see what the event would be like.
I'm glad that it was a great event thanks to everyone who helped out. I'm really looking forward to the excitement after the ice candles are lit.
I used to do sculpture, so I'm thinking about trying my hand at ice sculptures in the future," says Sasaki.
Children enjoying playing in the snow, lighting ice candles, and making snowmen
Candle lighting
People enjoying the lights of the ice candles decorating the venue
On the night of the beginning of spring on February 4th, the lights of ice candles shine as if lighting the light for the beginning of a new season!
With boundless love, gratitude and prayers, the Ice Candle 2023 will connect the thoughts of many townspeople and light the bright light of spring in their hearts.
YouTube videos
Other photos
Photos (98 photos) of the 2nd Hokuryu Town Ice Candle Festival 2023 (Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen) are here >> Photos (36 photos) from the 2nd Hokuryu Town Ice Candle Festival 2023 (in front of Hokuryu Junior High School) are here >>Related articles
◇ Photography and editing: Noboru Terauchi Interview and text: Ikuko Terauchi
