Matsuri Events in Japan

Hirosaki Castle Snow Lantern Festival

A quaint snow festival complete with snow sculptures and entertainment.

Kasedori Festival

This unique festival gets its name from the straw coats worn by the participants.

Konomiya Naked Festival

9,000 men, freezing water, and one God-man. Japan’s wildest naked festival is not for the faint-hearted.

Namahage Sedo Festival

A festival in which locals dress up as demons and scare the bejesus out of young children.

Tadami Snow Festival

Tadami has an abundance of snow, from which participants carve giant monuments and statues.

Mihara Daruma Festival

Festival food and daruma dolls aplenty. For a daruma market of historic proportions, there's none quite like Mihara City's annual Daruma Festival.

Dojima Yakushido Setsubun Omizukumi Festival

Instead of bean-throwing, you toss joss sticks into a fire at this traditional Setsubun Festival.

Demon Festival on Mount Yoshino in Nara

Fancy a dance with a demon? Nara's Kinpusenji Temple offers a unique Setsubun experience with its annual Demon Festival.

Kayabuki no Sato Snow (Miyama Village) Lantern Festival

An amazing chance to see a remote, snow-covered thatched village illuminated with hundreds of lanterns.

Marine Festa in Kuchinotsu

A festival to see all the wonders of the sea

Tightrope Lion Dance

One of Japan’s more unusual festivals, here you can watch brave performers balance on a tightrope strung across a 10m-wide valley while wearing a heavy headdress. Held in the grounds of …

Yuwaku Bon-Bori Festival

A unique festival straight from the world of popular series Hanasaku Iroha, the following for this fiery event grows every year. The town of Yuwaku was used as a model for the town of Yunosagi …