Held on the day before spring (Risshun) begins, Setsbun is a religious festival that has taken place in Japan for hundreds of years. Darkness and cold...
Snow and ice statues fill Odori, Sapporo's mile-long central park, for one of the world's biggest winter spectacles. Giant figures from history and fantasy...
Themes:
Exhibitions
, Spectacle
, Art & Literature
, Unusual
According to the history books, Japan's first ruler was Emperor Jimmu, a descendant of the Sun Goddess, who was crowned on 11 February, 660BC. This day...
Everywhere you look in Yokote there are illuminated shrines inside little snow houses. "Kamakura" (nothing to do with the city of that name) are snow...
As part of the Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Festival), 3,000 young men dressed only in loincloths first purify themselves in the bitterly cold waters of the...
Like many "harvest" festivals in Japan, Emburi takes place in early spring to pray for a successful rice harvest in the coming season, rather than celebrating...
Held in March close to the Aso Shrine on the volcanic Mount Aso, the annual Fire Festival is an incredible spectacle that sees participants twirl burning...
Themes:
Religion
, Dance
, Spectacle
, Entertainment
, Music
Performed at the Todai-ji Temple in Nara City, this ancient religious festival involves 11 priests circling Nigatsu-do Hall with huge burning poles made...
The timing depends on the weather, but every year in late March through to early April people flock to admire the springtime blossom on Tokyo's countless...
The annual Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri) is a day of celebrations devoted to young girls. Most families with girls will hold some kind of special event...
Setting off from the Himura Hachimangu Shrine, huge floats reaching 6m (20ft) into the air are paraded through the streets. The two-day event comes to...
The Vernal Equinox, or 'Shunbun No Hi', is celebrated all over Japan and is a time for cleaning the graves of ancestors. It's also common to leave gifts...
Every spring, the Japanese go crazy over their cherry blossoms, and the first appearance of the beautiful touches of white and yellow trigger a nationwide...
Hana Matsuri (Flower Festival) is a celebration of Buddha's birthday. Buddha was born on the eighth day of the fourth month of the traditional Chinese...
The two highlights of the Kamakura Festival are Shizuka-no-mai and Yabusame. Shizuka-no-mai is a traditional dance at the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine....
Themes:
Spectacle
, Culture
, History
, Religion
, Nature & Wildlife
, Entertainment
Yayoi is an ancient religious festival which originates in the eighth century ('Yayoi' meant the month of March in the traditional Japanese calendar)....
Themes:
Dance
, Culture
, History
, Religion
, Music
The charming old city of Takayama has two famous festivals, one at the height of the autumn colours and this slightly larger one at cherry blossom time....
29 April was originally celebrated as the birthday of Emperor Showa (Hirohito). After his death in 1989, it became known as Greenery Day or Nature Day...
The aim of a fighting kite is to cut through your opponent's kite string with the ground glass on your own string and bring the opponent's 3m (9ft) square...
Constitution Day (Kenpo kinenbi) commemorates the introduction of the new Japanese constitution on 3 May 1947 after the Second World War. Although it...
Themes:
Culture
, Spectacle
, Entertainment
, History
The three gods of good fortune, on horseback, lead a colourful procession of 12,000 'matsubayashi' folk music players in Japanese ensembles and brass...
Greenery Day, or 'Midori no hi' in Japanese, is a day given over to the celebration of nature and forms part of what is known as Golden Week. Together...
The fifth day of the fifth month is more accurately known as Boys' Day (Tango no Sekku) as the girls get their Doll Day in March. The most dramatic sign...
The ancient Japanese dance-drama Noh is given heightened mystery in this open-air performance by the light of bonfires and torches at Kofukuji Temple....
Themes:
Culture
, Religion
, Spectacle
, History
, Dance
, Theatre & Film
, Music
The festival's main event features a procession of beautifully outfitted ox-carts accompanied by 400 people in Heian-period dress. Leaving the Old Imperial...
Black and gold portable shrines (mikoshi) are carried through the streets of the old Kanda district by teams of local residents in traditional costume....
The focal point for three days of noisy celebration is the Asakusa Shrine in the grounds of Tokyo's famous Senso-ji temple. A long weekend of processions...
Themes:
Spectacle
, Dance
, Entertainment
, Religion
, Food & Drink
, Culture
, History
, Music
Visitors travel to the Nagara River in Gifu to watch the incredible nighttime spectacle of fisherman fishing with cormorants. Using an ancient art that...
1,000 samurai warriors re-enact the funeral rites of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the great military leader and unifier of Japan who became the first shogun in 1603....
Themes:
History
, Dance
, Culture
, Religion
, Spectacle
, Music
Also known as Mifune, the Boating Festival is an annual re-enactment on the Oi River of an imperial boating party from the Heian period when Kyoto first...
Themes:
Sport
, Dance
, History
, Spectacle
, Religion
, Art & Literature
, Culture
, Music
