Japanese Festivals

when they happen, why they exist, how to watch

All festivals · 30

• 2–4 November 2026Saga

  Karatsu Kunchi唐津くんち

  Fourteen lacquered, gilded floats — hauled, on the second day, down onto soft sand.

• 2–3 December 2026Saitama

  Chichibu Night Festival秩父夜祭

  On a winter night, lantern-covered floats are hauled up a steep slope while fireworks burn overhead.

• 4–11 February 2027Hokkaido

  Sapporo Snow Festivalさっぽろ雪まつり

  Monumental snow sculpture along Ōdōri Park — a postwar winter invention.

• 20 February 2027Okayama

  Saidaiji Eyō (Naked Festival)西大寺会陽(裸祭り)

  In midwinter, near-naked men contest two sacred wooden batons dropped into the crowd.

• 14–15 April 2027Gifu

  Takayama Spring Festival春の高山祭(山王祭)

  Hie Shrine's rite, with mechanical-puppet floats moving through the old Hida town.

• 3–4 May 2027Fukuoka

  Hakata Dontaku博多どんたく港まつり

  Rice paddles clapped together in the street — by participant count, one of Japan's largest festivals.

• 8–9 May 2027Tokyo

  Kanda Matsuri神田祭

  Kanda Myōjin's rite — the full version falls in odd-numbered years only.

• 15 May 2027Kyoto

  Aoi Matsuri葵祭

  The rite of the Kamo shrines, with a court-costumed procession walking from the old palace to the shrines.

• 17–18 May 2027Tochigi

  Nikkō Tōshōgū Spring Festival日光東照宮春季大祭

  A thousand-strong warrior procession moving through the cedar avenue, in rites for Tokugawa Ieyasu.

• 21–23 May 2027Tokyo

  Sanja Matsuri三社祭

  Asakusa Shrine's rite: a hundred neighbourhood palanquins shaking Asakusa for three days.

• 1–31 July 2027Kyoto

  Gion Matsuri祇園祭

  A month-long rite of Yasaka Shrine, begun to quell an epidemic.

• 1–15 July 2027Fukuoka

  Hakata Gion Yamakasa博多祇園山笠

  Kushida Shrine's rite, ending at dawn on the 15th as one-tonne floats are run through the city.

• 24–25 July 2027Osaka

  Tenjin Matsuri天神祭

  Osaka Tenmangū's rite, with a river procession of boats and fireworks over the water.

• 1–4 August 2027Iwate

  Morioka Sansa Odori盛岡さんさ踊り

  A dance festival known for the sheer number of drums, rooted in a legend about a demon's handprint.

• 2–7 August 2027Aomori

  Aomori Nebuta Matsuri青森ねぶた祭

  Vast illuminated floats of warriors and deities, moved through the city by drums, flutes and dancers.

• 3–6 August 2027Akita

  Akita Kantō Matsuri秋田竿燈まつり

  Long poles hung with lantern "rice sacks", balanced on a forehead, a hip, a shoulder.

• 5–7 August 2027Yamagata

  Yamagata Hanagasa Matsuri山形花笠まつり

  Safflower-decked straw hats spun in formation down the main avenue.

• 6–8 August 2027Miyagi

  Sendai Tanabata Matsuri仙台七夕まつり

  Washi streamers filling the covered arcades, keeping Tanabata on the old calendar.

• 9–12 August 2027Kōchi

  Yosakoi Matsuriよさこい祭り

  Clappers in both hands, and a deliberately open-ended choreography — a postwar invention.

• 11–15 August 2027Tokushima

  Awa Odori阿波踊り

  Bon dance at city scale: troupes called ren moving through the streets with their own musicians.

• 15–16 August 2027Kumamoto

  Yamaga Tōrō Matsuri山鹿灯籠まつり

  Gold lanterns made of paper and glue alone, balanced on the head, danced by a thousand women.

• 1–3 September 2027Toyama

  Owara Kaze no Bonおわら風の盆

  Three nights in which a hillside town fills with wordless dance, to kokyū and shamisen.

• 18–19 September 2027Osaka

  Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri岸和田だんじり祭

  Heavy wooden floats run at full speed and turned on a right angle — the yarimawashi.

• 7–9 October 2027Nagasaki

  Nagasaki Kunchi長崎くんち

  Suwa Shrine's rite, whose dedicated performances carry Chinese and Dutch elements in solution.

• 9–10 October 2027Gifu

  Takayama Autumn Festival秋の高山祭(八幡祭)

  Sakurayama Hachimangū's rite — Takayama's other festival, with a different set of floats.

• 16–18 October 2027Ehime

  Niihama Taiko Matsuri新居浜太鼓祭り

  Vast gold-embroidered drum floats hoisted on shoulders, and set against each other by district.

• 22 October 2027Kyoto

  Jidai Matsuri時代祭

  Heian Shrine's rite: a thousand years of costume, walked past in chronological order.

• 22 October 2027Kyoto

  Kurama Fire Festival鞍馬の火祭

  A mountain village filled with burning pine torches — held on the same night as Jidai Matsuri.

• 1–3 April 2028Nagano

  Onbashira御柱祭

  Once every six years, giant firs are dragged from the mountain and raised at the corners of Suwa Taisha. Next: 2028.

• 9 June 2028Tokyo

  Sannō Matsuri山王祭

  Hie Shrine's rite in Akasaka — the other tenka matsuri, alternating years with Kanda.