Visitors travel to the Nagara River in Gifu to watch the incredible nighttime spectacle of fisherman fishing with cormorants. Using an ancient art that...
The first Tokyo Fireworks Festival took place in 1733 to commemorate the deaths caused by a famine in the previous year. Known as "Hanabi Taiki", the...
Themes:
Food & Drink
, Spectacle
, Culture
, History
Gujo Odori is one of the most accessible of Japan's summer festivals. The dancing continues for 31 nights, but the high point of the festival is the all-night...
Themes:
Dance
, Spectacle
, Entertainment
, Culture
, Music
230 sets of paper lanterns (kanto) balanced on poles simultaneously sway up into the night sky to the sound of drums and bamboo flutes as part of Akita's...
Themes:
Spectacle
, Religion
, Culture
, Entertainment
Nagoya Castle, one of Japan's most famous Edo period castles, is the pride of the city. And the Nagoya Castle Summer Festival, known locally as the Nagoya-jo...
Themes:
Music
, Theatre & Film
, Food & Drink
, Entertainment
The central feature of the Nebuta Festival is 20 gigantic, brilliantly-painted paper sculptures which are lit from within like paper lanterns. Mounted...
Themes:
Culture
, Spectacle
, Kids' Stuff
, Entertainment
Like the Aomori Nebuta Festival, huge painted paper sculptures are paraded through the night streets, illuminated from within. But the Hirosaki festival...
Enormous paper lanterns are paraded through the streets of Isshiki to ward off a sea demon. About 450 years ago, troubled by the havoc caused every summer...
Themes:
Religion
, Entertainment
, Spectacle
, History
The people of Yatsuo dance through their old-world streets to the traditional lilt of the three-stringed shamisen. This quiet mountain village, with its...
At the time of the autumn equinox, the people of Aomori undertake their annual pilgrimage to the summit of Mt Iwaki. This elegant 1,625m (5,330ft) volcanic...
Respect for the Aged Day ("keiro no hi") celebrates the Confucian value of respect for one's elders. Rather as Coming of Age Day celebrates all the young...
One of the two high points of the Kamakura Festival, Yabusame is an exhibition of samurai skills in using a bow and arrow on horseback to shoot at targets...
Like many societies, the Japanese reserve the period around the autumn equinox to pay their respects to the graves of their ancestors. This is one of...
There is no question that the marimo (Cladophora aegagropila), which inhabit the bed of Lake Akan, are an unusual plant. A type of algae, they are perfectly...
This is by far the most popular festival in Nagoya, the fourth largest city in Japan, and features a great variety of events, from street parades with...
Themes:
Entertainment
, Dance
, Food & Drink
, Kids' Stuff
, Music
, Sport
In this most uproarious of Japanese festivals, shrine palanquins ("yatai") are used as battering rams to knock out opposing ones. Each shrine palanquin...
Themes:
Kids' Stuff
, Culture
, Sport
, Entertainment
, Spectacle
, History
Taking place at the Suwa Shinto Shrine in Nagasaki, the annual Kunchi Festival is one of Japan's biggest festivals of the year. It is an incredibly colourful...
Themes:
Kids' Stuff
, Religion
, History
, Dance
, Music
The charming old city of Takayama has two famous festivals, one at cherry blossom time and this slightly smaller one at the height of the autumn colours....
Themes:
Dance
, History
, Religion
, Culture
, Music
Up to 350,000 people gather to watch a procession of 3,000 participants carrying lanterns and huge paper decorations to Honmonji. The Oeshiki Festival...
Health and Sports Day (taiiku no hi) commemorates the opening of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. It has been a public holiday since 1966. It is a day when...
Eight hundred samurai re-enact the funeral rites of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the great military leader and unifier of Japan who became the first shogun in 1603....
Themes:
Dance
, History
, Religion
, Culture
, Music
Kurama is a charming village with hot springs in the mountains north of Kyoto. Once a year it erupts into a sea of fire as young men in loin-cloths carry...
Kyoto's Jidai Matsuri (Festival of Eras) is a glorious opportunity to see the history of the country brought to life. Some 2,000 people wear authentic...
More a market than a festival, Tori-no-ichi (Day of the Rooster) is the time to buy a lucky rake (kumade). These colourful traditional rakes are guaranteed...
Karatsu Kunchi, designated as part of Japan's intangible ethnic and cultural heritage, is an autumn festival at the Karatsu Shrine. For three days the...
Themes:
Religion
, Culture
, Dance
, History
, Kids' Stuff
, Music
A day for the promotion of culture and the love of freedom and peace. On Culture Day, the Japanese government gives out awards to individuals for their...
With the eternal shape of Mt Fuji in the background, the Daimyo Gyoretsu Parade brings to life the experience of travelling the Tokaido road back in the...
"Shichi Go San" means the odd luck numbers "Seven Five Three". Prayers are offered for the health and growth of girls aged three and seven, and boys aged...
Labour Thanksgiving Day (Kinro Kansha No Hi) has been a national public holiday in honour of labour since 1948. It is on the same date as the traditional...
Six 10m- (30ft-) high brightly painted and illuminated floats are pulled out of the grounds of Chichibu Shrine and into the streets of the town. Each...
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