A beautiful night in the Hokkaido woods with immersive Ainu folktale Kamuy Lumina【Photos】

Grab your rhythm staff for an unforgettable after-sundown event.

Hokkaido’s Akan Mashu National Park, filled with towering mountains, dense forests, and sparkling lakes, is a wonderful place to spend the day. Once the sun goes down, though, there’s usually not a whole lot to do other than head back to your hotel and maybe soak in a hot spring bath.

But right now there’s a beautiful nighttime activity going on near the park’s Lake Akan. Called Kamuy Lumina, it’s a combination nature walk, art installation, and participatory folktale reenactment, and we got the chance to experience it for ourselves on our recent travels in Japan’s northernmost prefecture.

Lake Akan Forrest Night Walk Kamuy Lumina, to use its full name, is being held nightly from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Participants enter the forest in groups, and you gather first at the check-in area located near the Lake Akan pier at your group’s appointed start time. Before heading into the woods, you’re given a “rhythm staff.”

The staff is equipped with LED lights, which is something you’ll be grateful for, because after sundown the forest gets very dark.

As we walked, we could hear the sounds of folk music emanating from our rhythm staff, which also contains a speaker. The music was performed by members of the local community of Hokkaido’s indigenous Ainu people, and as you walk the 1.2-kilomtere (0.75-mile) Kamuy Lumina path through the forest, you’ll also be taking part in an Ainu legend, with projection mapping, lighting, and other special effects to enhance the experience, as well as narration from the staff’s speaker.

Without giving too much away, the Kamuy Lumina English-language website describes the story, which involves the kamuy (local deities), with:

The Kamuy are angry and have stopped sending deer and fish for the hunters because humans have forgotten their respect for the land. But the Owl and the Jay Bird are determined to get the humans a second chance by travelling to the land of the Kamuy, and delivering a musical message on their behalf.

There’s just one problem. The Jay Bird may have the most beautiful voice in the forest, but he can’t follow a beat! He needs your help to keep the rhythm. Join him on his journey, and you might even return with the wisdom to bring the animals back to the forest!

The journey takes about 50 minutes, and there’s a uniquely enchanting beauty to the presentation. The projection-mapped elements blend in with the backdrop of trees in a way that gives them a real sense of presence, and the other effects, such as colored illumination, sound effects, and smoke, add to the sense that mystical forces are in play throughout the woods, especially when we were called on to strike the ground with our rhythm staff in time with the other members of the group at a pivotal moment in the story.

Advance tickets (available here) are priced at 3,000 yen (US$21.50) for adults and 1,500 yen for kids (elementary school-age), with same-day tickets at 3,500 and 1,700 yen. Being a nighttime outdoor activity in Hokkaido means that Kamuy Lumina has to wrap up before the winter snows set in, but there’s still time to experience it for yourself, as it’ll be going on until November 9.

Related: Kamuy Lumina official website
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