The historic town of Hita in Oita prefecture is venue for the Hita Gion Matsuri in late July. Gion festivals are held throughout Japan in July, but each brings a touch of local flavor with lavishly decorated floats and traditional music.
The Hita Gion is touted as one of the “top 3 Gion festivals in Kyushu”. How these rankings are made is a bit of a mystery, but if you’re in the area in late July it’s worth a look.
Like the head office in Osaka, the Hiroshima branch of the Japan Mint has a garden of late blossoming yaezakura cherry trees. The garden boasts 63 multi petaled varieties of sakura and 219 trees. Regular old somei yoshino cherry blossoms […]
Each year for one week in mid April, the Osaka Mint Bureau opens their grounds for ‘Sakura Torinuke” – cherry blossom viewing. The particular variety for which the mint grounds are famous for is yaezakura – a slightly later flowering […]
The Takayama Spring Festival/Sanno Matsuri takes place at Hie Shrine in Takayama City, Gifu – not to be confused with the festival and shrine of the same name in Tokyo. The festival features processions of large wheeled floats, mikoshi (shoulder […]
Celebrating the accession ceremony day of the temple’s deity – Emperor Kanmu in 781 in Nara, this annual festival features an opportunity to see Geiko (the geisha of Kyoto) and Maiko, their apprentices. The prayer ceremony takes place on the […]
