「Bonbori Festival」 at Yuwaku Onsen, the sacred place of Yumeji Takehisa and the anime “Hanasaku Iroha” 【Kanazawa Topics】

Takehisa Yumeji was born in Okayama Prefecture in 1884 and moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. From the Taisho era (1912-1926) to the Showa era (1926-1989), he painted unique 「Yumeji-style paintings of beautiful women」 and attracted many people as a poet.

The official website of the Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji Museum, an art museum located in Yuwaku Onsen, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, states, 「The museum was built in April 2000 to honor Yumeji’s achievements based on the relationship between Yumeji and Kanazawa and this Yuwaku area」.

Relationship between Takehisa Yumeji and Kanazawa

Novelist Hiroyuki Itsuki (born in Fukuoka Prefecture), who calls Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, 「another hometown」, wrote about Yumeji Takehisa in his essay collection 『Itsuki Hiroyuki’s Kanazawa Sanpo』 (first published March 2015).

Takehisa Yumeji and Kanazawa are somehow strangely related. His first wife, Tamaki Kishi, was from Kanazawa. He also spent a short, happy life with his life-long girlfriend, Hikono, at Yuwaku Onsen (hot spring) on the outskirts of Kanazawa. This relationship led to the creation of the Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji Kan, which is now the Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji Kan. It may seem too much to be true, but it is true that each of the three women surrounding Yumeji had a connection to Kanazawa. (April 2008)

『Itsuki Hiroyuki’s Kanazawa Sanpo』 (Kodansha, first published March 2015)

It is romantic that Yuwaku Onsen, with such a story, would become the setting for an anime in the Heisei era.

Yuwaku Onsen, Hanasaku Iroha and Bonbori Festival

The TV anime『Hanasaku Iroha』(April-September 2011) is inspired by Yuyuu Hot Springs and follows the struggles of high school student Ohana Matsumae (Kanae Ito), who ends up working at her grandmother’s hot spring inn due to family circumstances, and her fellow high school students Tamiko Tsurugi (Chiaki Omigawa) and Nako Oshimizu (Aki Toyosaki).

In 2011, it was selected as the 15th 「Jury Recommended Film」 in the 『Animation Division of the Japan Media Arts Festival』, and 『Hanasaku Iroha HOME SWEET HOME the Movie』 was released in March 2013.

Yuwaku Onsen is a hot spring with a 1300-year history, and the feudal lords of the Kaga Domain used to visit this historic hot spring, but to the surprise of many, it has actually adopted the 「Bonbori Festival」 from 『Hanasaku Iroha』 and has held a local festival since 2011.

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☆Kanazawa Information

・The Internet is buzzing that the gazebo at Utatsuyama Park may be the setting for Love Live’s latest 「Virtual School Idol」

・Clothing, small swords, and kamui (albatross) of the Ainu tribe, exhibition in Ishikawa Prefecture