best route to winter light festival

I was hoping to go to the Japan Winter Light Festival at Nabano no Sato in Kunawa city. Can anyone suggest the best (and possibly cheapest way, as long as it doesn't take hours and hours) to get there and back from osaka? Both for people with a temporary visitor and without (travelling with a mixed group so some of us are eligible for certain rail passes and others aren't). Thanks!

I recommend traveling by Kintetsu from Namba. It is almost equally fast as traveling by shinkansen (under 3 hours with good connections) and costs around 4000 yen one way instead of the roughly 7000 yen for travl by shinkansen:
http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=OSAKA-NAMBA&arv_no...

Access to Nanaba no Sato from Nagoya or Nagashima Station is explained here:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3313.html

thank you so much!