Yamagata Hanagasa Festival

The hanagasa is a headpiece that is shaped like a flower and was traditionally dyed red from locally grown safflower.

It was first celebrated in 1963 when the parade was a part of the Zaō Summer Festival as an event to attract tourists to Yamagata Prefecture.

[2] The song's creation is attributed to workers who were constructing an embankment in 1919 along Lake Tokura in the city of Obanazawa in northeastern Yamagata Prefecture.

The song was created as workers compacted dirt into the embankment, they would rhythmically chant "yassho" followed with a response "makasho".

[2] Following the completion of the embankment, the community that built it held a parade where they all wore sedge hats that were dyed red with safflower, a crop of the region.