Culture
Japanese Matsuri Festivals
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Updated:4/9/2026
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Festival↕ | City↕ | Month↕ | Held Since↕ | Highlight↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gion Matsuri | Kyoto | July | 869 | Yamaboko Junko float procession | One of the three great festivals of Japan, month-long celebration, massive wooden floats called yamaboko |
| Tenjin Matsuri | Osaka | July | 951 | River boat procession and fireworks | Honors the scholar deity Sugawara no Michizane, over 100 boats on the Okawa River |
| Kanda Matsuri | Tokyo | May (odd years) | 1,600 | 200 mikoshi portable shrines parade | Held at Kanda Myojin shrine, originally celebrated Tokugawa Ieyasu's victory at Sekigahara |
| Sanja Matsuri | Tokyo | May | 1,312 | Wild mikoshi parade through Asakusa | Tokyo's wildest festival, yakuza traditionally showed tattoos, around 2 million attendees over three days |
| Nebuta Matsuri | Aomori | August | 1,700 | Giant illuminated warrior lantern floats | Enormous paper floats of samurai and mythological figures, haneto dancers chanting Rassera |
| Awa Odori | Tokushima | August | 1,586 | Fools dance through the streets | Largest dance festival in Japan, 1.3 million spectators, chant 'the dancing fool and the watching fool' |
| Tanabata Matsuri | Sendai | August | 1,600 | Colorful streamers fill arcades | Star festival based on the legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi, massive paper decorations hung from bamboo |
| Sapporo Snow Festival | Sapporo | February | 1,950 | Massive ice and snow sculptures at Odori Park | Post-war Hokkaido tradition, draws over 2 million visitors each winter |
| Kishiwada Danjiri | Kishiwada, Osaka | September | 1,703 | Danjiri wooden carts raced at full speed | Most dangerous festival in Japan, men ride atop wooden floats, known injuries and deaths |
| Takayama Matsuri | Takayama, Gifu | April and October | 1,585 | Elaborate gilded floats with karakuri puppets | One of Japan's three most beautiful festivals, features mechanical puppet performances |
| Hakata Gion Yamakasa | Fukuoka | July | 1,241 | One-ton floats raced through the city | Men in loincloths race decorated floats on a 5 km course at dawn, 770-year tradition |
| Chichibu Night Festival | Chichibu, Saitama | December | 1,200 | Gigantic lantern-lit floats and winter fireworks | One of Japan's three great hikiyama festivals, rare winter fireworks display |
| Jidai Matsuri | Kyoto | October | 1,895 | Historical costume procession | Parade of 2000 people in costumes representing 1200 years of Japanese history |
| Aoi Matsuri | Kyoto | May | 544 | Heian-period costumed procession | One of Kyoto's three main festivals, 500 people in ancient court dress walk from the Imperial Palace |
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