All festivals

Festivals in Japan in February

Dates are computed from each festival’s rule, so future years work too

5

• 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.

• 6–11 February 2027Hokkaido

  Asahikawa Winter Festival

  旭川冬まつり

  Japan’s coldest city competes on sheer scale of snow, for six days.

• 6–13 February 2027Hokkaido

  Otaru Snow Light Path

  小樽雪あかりの路

  Candles along a canal and an abandoned railway — the opposite pole from a snow-sculpture festival.

• 12–14 February 2027Akita

  Namahage Sedo Festival

  なまはげ柴灯まつり

  Over three winter nights at Shinzan Shrine in Oga, namahage — the masked, straw-clad visiting deities of the peninsula — come down out of the dark, snowy mountain with torches.

• 20 February 2027Okayama

  Saidaiji Eyō (Naked Festival)

  西大寺会陽(裸祭り)

  In midwinter, men in loincloths contest two sacred wooden batons dropped into the crowd.