Japan

Events & Gatherings

601 events

September 2026 6 events

The floats in Kuji move. Not merely along the street, which any float does, but upward and outward: figures and ornament

Festival Kanto O

09/18–09/19

Omuro Sengen Shrine Yabusame

Omuro Sengen Shrine, Shimoyoshida, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi

Yabusame, in the usual telling, is archery from horseback: a rider at full gallop loosing arrows at wooden targets, and

Festival Chubu O

09/19–09/20

Oiwake Shukuba Matsuri: The Post Town That Still Knows Its Songs

Oiwake, Karuizawa Town, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano

Oiwake sits at the junction of the Nakasendo highway and the Hokkoku Kaido, one of the branching points in Edo Japan's r

Festival Tohoku A

09/19–09/23

Aizu Festival

Tsuruga Castle and central Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima

A town of the defeated never forgets its pride. In Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima, the Aizu Festival sends a grand procession

Festival Kanto I

09/19–09/21

Ishioka Matsuri: One of the Kanto's Three Great Festivals

Hitachi-no-kuni Sosha Shrine and city center, Ishioka, Ibaraki

The lions move through the town. In Ishioka, in Ibaraki, a three-day festival rises each September, ending on Respect f

Festival Kanto O

09/23–09/24

Ohara Hadaka Matsuri

Ohara Beach and central Ohara, Isumi, Chiba

Early in the afternoon of September 23rd, on a stretch of grey sand on the Pacific side of the Boso Peninsula, portable

October 2026 22 events

Gathering Kinki M

10/01–11/23

MIND TRAIL Okuyamato

Yoshino, Tenkawa, Soni and the Okuyamato region, Nara

You walk through the mountains, and you look. In Okuyamato, the deep mountain region of southern Nara including Yoshino

Festival Chubu M

10/03–10/03

Matsumoto Jidai Matsuri: Four Centuries of Castle Town History Walking

Around Matsumoto Castle, Matsumoto City, Nagano

Matsumoto Castle's keep is black — unusual in Japanese castle architecture, which more commonly tends toward white — and

Festival Tohoku H

10/03–10/03

Higashimatsushima Autumn Festival

Around Yamoto Station and the shopping association, Higashimatsushima, Miyagi

Higashimatsushima calls itself the blue town. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force base here is home to the Blue Impulse aer

Festival Tohoku O

10/03–10/03

Omagari Fireworks: Autumn Chapter

Omono River, Daisen, Akita

The autumn fireworks at Omagari are not a competition. In August, this same riverbed hosts the contest that decides who

Festival Tohoku N

10/04–10/06

Nihonmatsu Chochin Matsuri: The Lantern Festival of Fukushima

Nihonmatsu Shrine and city center, Nihonmatsu, Fukushima

Fire is passed from a shrine's flame to the lanterns, and the festival begins. On an October night in Nihonmatsu, in th

Every October, a dragon descends the stone steps of Suwa Shrine and moves through the streets of Nagasaki. It has been d

Festival Chugoku K

10/09–10/11

Kotohira-gu Reitaisai (Konpira Grand Festival)

Kotohira-gu, Kotohira, Kagawa

Everyone in Japan seems to know Konpira-san, the sea god who lives, improbably, halfway up a mountain in Kagawa. Sailors

Festival Chubu T

10/09–10/10

Takayama Autumn Festival (Hachiman Matsuri)

519 Hachimancho, Takayama, Gifu (Sakurayama Hachimangu)

In the same town, the same floats bring a different season. Alongside the spring Sanno Festival, this autumn celebration

Festival Other T

10/10–10/11

Tsushima Izuhara Hachiman Festival: Between Two Countries

Izuhara Hachimangu Shrine, Tsushima City, Nagasaki

On a clear day from Tsushima's highest points, you can see the Korean peninsula — not a distant shimmer but the actual o

Festival Okinawa N

10/10–10/12

Naha Great Tug-of-War Festival

Kumoji intersection, National Route 58, Naha, Okinawa

Everyone pulls a rope two hundred meters long. In Naha, Okinawa, the Great Tug-of-War uses the largest straw rope in the

Festival Chugoku S

10/14–10/17

Saijo Festival

Isono Shrine and others, Saijo, Ehime

In the autumn, ornate floats wade into a river. Saijo's festival fields more than a hundred floats, called danjiri, and

Festival Kinki N

10/14–10/15

Nada Fighting Festival

Matsubara Hachiman Shrine, Shirahama-cho, Himeji, Hyogo

They smash the shrines together on purpose. In the Nada district of Himeji, three portable shrines are slammed into one

Festival Kinki M

10/15–10/16

Mifune Matsuri (Kumano Hayatama Taisha Grand Festival)

Kumano Hayatama Taisha, Shingu, Wakayama

There is a phrase you hear in Shingu: the river is a pilgrimage road. For a thousand years, emperors and paupers came do

Festival Chugoku N

10/16–10/18

Niihama Taiko Festival

When autumn comes, the men gather beneath the drum floats. Niihama, in Ehime. Each taikodai weighs around three tons, s

Festival Kyushu O

10/17–10/18

Obi Jokamachi Festival: The Little Kyoto of Kyushu

Obi, Nichinan City, Miyazaki

Obi is called the Little Kyoto of Kyushu, and the designation is more accurate than most such nicknames. The castle town

Festival Kanto K

10/17–10/18

Kawagoe Festival

The floats move through a town of storehouses. Kawagoe is sometimes called little Edo, and the name is earned: black-wa

Festival Kinki J

10/22–10/22

Jidai Matsuri: Kyoto Walks Through Eleven Centuries

Kyoto Imperial Palace to Heian Shrine, Kyoto

On October 22nd, Kyoto walks through its own memory. The Jidai Matsuri—the Festival of the Ages—is a procession of some

Festival Kinki K

10/22–10/22

Kurama Fire Festival: A Corridor of Flame North of Kyoto

Around Yuki Shrine, Kurama, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto

On the same night Kyoto's grand costume procession ends, thirty minutes north by mountain railway, a very different cere

Festival Kyushu H

10/23–10/24

Hakata Okunchi: The Autumn Thanksgiving of Kushida Shrine

Kushida Shrine and central Hakata, Fukuoka

A festival of gratitude, in autumn. In October, at Kushida Shrine, the guardian shrine of Hakata in Fukuoka, the great

Festival Kyushu I

10/24–10/25

Imari Tontenton Festival

Portable shrine and float collide. At the Imari Tontenton Festival in October, a fighting shrine and a fighting float c

Gathering Kyushu S

10/30–11/03

Saga International Balloon Fiesta

For five days that straddle the end of October and the start of November, the flood plain of the Kase River in Saga fill

Market Kanto M

10/31–11/03

Mashiko Pottery Fair

Jonaizaka and Sayado areas, Mashiko, Tochigi

Twice a year, a small pottery town in the Kanto hills receives more visitors than it can comfortably hold — and the visi

November 2026 11 events

Gathering Kyushu O

11/02–11/03

Ohara Festival

The largest festival in southern Kyushu takes over the tram-line avenue of Tenmonkan, Kagoshima's downtown, for two days

Festival Kyushu K

11/02–11/04

Karatsu Kunchi

3-13 Minamijounai, Karatsu, Saga (Karatsu Shrine)

Each of the fourteen floats has a name and a story. A red lion. A samurai helmet. A sea bream. A dragon. Urashima Taro o

Festival Kyushu Y

11/03–11/03

Yagoro-don Festival

Iwagawa Hachiman Shrine, Osumi-cho, Soo, Kagoshima

He stands four meters eighty-five: a giant in a plum-dyed robe, two swords at his waist, gazing over the rooftops of a s

Market Kinki I

11/03–11/03

Izushi Pottery Festival

Izushi castle town, Toyooka, Hyogo

It is simply white. That is Izushi ware. In Izushi, part of Toyooka in Hyogo, a small castle town called the little Kyot

Market Other E

11/06–03/20

Echizen Crab Season Opening

Roadside Station Echizen, 71-335-1 Kuriya, Echizen, Nyu District, Fukui

November 6th. The date does not move, and in this part of Fukui it functions as a second new year. It is the day the Ec

Festival Kanto T

11/07–11/07

Tsuchiura National Fireworks Competition

Sakuragawa Riverside, Tsuchiura, Ibaraki

This is where the makers come to be judged. Since 1925, the finest pyrotechnicians in Japan have gathered on the banks o

Gathering Kyushu U

11/07–11/08

Usuki Takeyoi Bamboo Lantern Festival

The town of Usuki, on Oita's eastern coast, is a small place — some thirty-seven thousand people, a castle town grown ri

Festival Kyushu Y

11/22–11/23

Yatsushiro Myoken Festival

Yatsushiro Shrine and city center, Yatsushiro, Kumamoto

The creature is called Kida, though everyone in Yatsushiro calls it Game: a turtle and a snake fused into one bounding,

Festival Shikoku I

11/22–11/24

Ichijo Taisai

Ichijo Shrine, 1-11 Nakamura Honmachi, Shimanto, Kochi

A memory of people who fled here from the capital, checked each year against a flame brought from the capital. Nakamura

Festival Chubu N

11/23–11/23

Nagano Ebisuko Fireworks Festival

Saigawa riverside, Nagano City, Nagano

Japan shoots its fireworks in summer — tens of millions of people, yukata, humidity, haze. Nagano waits until November 2

Festival Chugoku H

11/28–11/28

Hofu Hadakamairi: A Bare-Chested Pilgrimage in Late November

Hofu Tenmangu Shrine, Hofu City, Yamaguchi

On the fourth Saturday of November, the doors of the main hall open at six in the evening, and the men come in. They we

December 2026 11 events

Festival Kanto C

12/02–12/03

Chichibu Night Festival

1-3 Banba-cho, Chichibu, Saitama (Chichibu Shrine)

In December, when most festivals have long ended, Chichibu lights its winter sky. This is one of Japan's three great flo

Gathering Other M

12/03–12/03

Morotabune at Miho Shrine: Rowing the Old Negotiation

The bay at Mihonoseki is narrow and deep, and in early December the water in it is the colour of slate. Two boats push

Festival Chubu A

12/05–12/05

Aenokoto Ritual of Oku-Noto

Farmhouses across the Oku-Noto region, Ishikawa

An invisible god is invited into the home and treated as an honored guest. In the farmhouses of Oku-Noto, the Aenokoto r

Festival Chugoku W

12/06–12/06

Waraiko Laughing Ritual

1143 Daido Omata, Hofu, Yamaguchi

In the farming hamlet of Omata, on the Seto Inland Sea side of Yamaguchi, grown men in formal crested kimono sit facing

Gathering Kinki D

12/07–12/08

Daikon-daki at Senbon Shakado: Radishes Against the Kyoto Cold

Steam finds you before the gate does. It is the first week of December in Kyoto, and the cold has already taken up resi

Festival Kyushu M

12/12–12/12

Miyakonojo Shiwasu Festival: The Year's End Fire

Miyakonojo City and Kirishima Shrine, Miyazaki

In December, the gods descend from Kirishima. The mountain shrine complex holds its year-end grand festival, and Miyakon

Festival Kinki K

12/15–12/18

Kasuga Wakamiya Onmatsuri

Kasuga Taisha, Nara, Nara

Since 1136, it has not missed a year. Not for wars, not for plagues, not for the collapse of the world that ordered it i

Festival Chubu A

12/15–12/16

Akiha Fire Festival

841 Ryoke, Haruno-cho, Tenryu-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka

On the fifteenth and sixteenth of December, at the summit of a mountain north of Hamamatsu, Japan thinks hardest about f

Festival Kanto A

12/20–12/20

Akutai Matsuri (Festival of Abuse)

102 Izumi, Kasama, Ibaraki

Once a year, on the third Sunday of December, it is not merely permitted but correct to hurl insults at a religious proc

Festival Tohoku S

12/31–01/01

Shoreisai (Haguro New Year's Eve Fire Rite)

Dewa Sanzan Shrine, Mt. Haguro, Tsuruoka, Yamagata

New Year's Eve on Mt. Haguro is examination day. Since September 24 — one hundred days — two yamabushi priests called ma

Gathering Chugoku C

12/31–12/31

Chinkasai at Miyajima: Carrying Fire into the New Year

On the last evening of the year, the tide is out at Miyajima and the great gate stands on wet sand. The crowds that fil

January 2027 16 events

Festival Tohoku D

01/02–01/02

Dainichido Bugaku

Ohirumemuchi Shrine, Donoue-16 Hachimantai, Kazuno, Akita

On the second morning of the year, while it is still dark and the snow lies deep across the Hachimantai basin, four haml

Festival Kyushu T

01/03–01/03

Tamaseseri Ball-Catching Festival

Hakozakigu Shrine, 1-22-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka

On the third of January, while much of Japan is still drowsing through the New Year, the men of Hakozaki in Fukuoka stri

Gathering Kanto M

01/04–01/04

Mushasai at Chuzenji: Arrows Across a Frozen Lake

Lake Chuzenji lies in a bowl of mountains high above Nikko, and on the fourth of January it is a hard place to stand sti

Market Kanto S

01/06–01/07

Shorinzan Daruma Market

Shorinzan Darumaji Temple, Takasaki, Gunma

The high point of this fair arrives at two o'clock in the morning. Shorinzan Darumaji, a Zen temple in the hills west of

Festival Kyushu O

01/07–01/07

Oniyo Fire Festival

Daizenji Tamataregu Shrine, Daizenji-machi, Kurume, Fukuoka

A week into the new year, on the plain of the Chikugo River near Kurume, one of Japan's three great fire festivals sets

Festival Kinki N

01/09–01/11

Nishinomiya Toka Ebisu

1-17 Shake-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo (Nishinomiya Shrine)

You run, and you seize the year's fortune. In Nishinomiya, Hyogo, stands the head shrine of the three thousand Ebisu shr

Festival Chubu N

01/09–01/11

Nagahama Toka Ebisu

Hokoku Shrine, 6-37 Minamigofukucho, Nagahama, Shiga

Hokoku Shrine in Nagahama enshrines Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who made this lakeside town his first castle seat and never enti

Festival Tohoku B

01/14–01/14

Bange Hatsuichi: The Great Bale Tug-of-War

Main Street by the Town Hall, Aizubange, Kawanuma District, Fukushima

People in Aizubange call January 14th their New Year's Day. The calendar disagrees, but the town has held to this since

Gathering Kinki D

01/14–01/14

Doyadoya at Shitennoji: Cold Water in the Middle of Osaka

Shitennoji sits in the middle of Osaka, surrounded on every side by the ordinary business of a large city — apartment bl

Festival Chubu N

01/14–01/15

Niino Snow Festival

Izu Shrine, Niino, Anan, Nagano

Snow, in Niino, is a promise. If it falls thick in January, the rice will come heavy in autumn, so the village celebrate

Festival Chubu N

01/15–01/15

Nozawa Onsen Dosojin Matsuri: The Fire Festival of Midwinter

Nozawa Onsen Village, Shimotakai-gun, Nagano

On the evening of January 15th, in the snow of the northern Nagano mountains, a large wooden structure built by the youn

Festival Kanto C

01/15–01/15

Chakkirako

Kainan Shrine and central Misaki, Miura, Kanagawa

On the fifteenth of January, in the tuna port of Misaki at the tip of the Miura Peninsula, one of the smallest festivals

Festival Chubu M

01/15–01/15

Mukonage and Suminuri

Matsunoyama Onsen Yakushido, Matsunoyamayumoto, Tokamachi, Niigata

Behind the hot spring village of Matsunoyama, up a flight of stone steps that disappear entirely under snow each winter,

Festival Kinki N

01/20–02/28

Nada Sake Brewery Open Days

A thin band of land between the sea and the mountains. Nada, in Kobe, is the largest sake-producing district in Japan,

Gathering Tohoku H

01/20–01/20

Hatsukayasai at Motsuji: Dancing Held Over from the Heian Court

Hiraizumi in January is snow, and darkness, and a great deal of history compressed into a very small area. Eight hundre

Festival Kinki W

01/23–01/23

Wakakusa Yamayaki: The Night Nara Sets a Mountain on Fire

Mount Wakakusa and Nara Park, Nara

On the fourth Saturday of January, Nara sets a mountain on fire. Wakakusa-yama is the grass-covered hill that rises dire

February 2027 20 events

Festival Kinki O

02/01–02/05

Owase Yaya Festival

Owase Shrine area, Kitaura-cho, Owase, Mie

For five nights in early February, the fishing town of Owase — pressed between steep mountains and a deep ria inlet on t

Festival Tohoku K

02/01–02/02

Kurokawa Noh — Ogi Festival

Kasuga Shrine, Kurokawa, Tsuruoka, Yamagata

On the night of February 1st, in the farming village of Kurokawa in Yamagata Prefecture, the noh begins. It has been go

Festival Hokkaido S

02/04–02/10

Sapporo Snow Festival

Odori Park and other venues, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Snow sculptures are made knowing they will vanish in days. In February, giant sculptures rising more than ten meters lin

Festival Kyushu N

02/06–02/20

Nagasaki Lantern Festival

Shinchi Chinatown, Central Park and across Nagasaki

Why is a Japanese town this red? Nagasaki's Lantern Festival, held at the Lunar New Year, lights the city with some fift

Festival Kinki O

02/06–02/06

Oto Matsuri (Fire Festival of Kamikura Shrine)

Kamikura Shrine, Shingu, Wakayama

For one night in February, the mountain becomes a river of fire. On the 6th, in Shingu, some two thousand men in white,

Gathering Chubu K

02/07–03/08

Kawazu Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival

The earliest spring in Japan arrives in a valley on the Izu Peninsula, nearly a month before the rest of the country. Th

Gathering Hokkaido O

02/07–02/14

Otaru Snow Light Path

In the coldest part of the Hokkaido winter, the port town of Otaru fills its streets with candles set in snow. The Snow

Festival Chubu N

02/07–02/08

Noto Oyster Festival

Oysters come up out of the winter sea. Anamizu sits on an inlet of Noto, a quiet, sheltered bay where the waves stay lo

Festival Tohoku O

02/08–02/09

Ouchijuku Snow Festival

Snow settles on the thatch. Ouchijuku was a post town once, a way station on the road that linked Aizu to Nikko, where

Festival Shikoku A

02/09–02/11

Akiba Matsuri (Niyodogawa)

Betsue, Niyodogawa, Agawa District, Kochi

Two hundred people spend a whole day walking a mountain path. This is Betsue, a hamlet in the town of Niyodogawa, deep

Festival Chugoku T

02/13–02/15

Tsubaki Matsuri (Camellia Festival)

Iyozu-hiko-no-mikoto Shrine, 2-2-1 Iai, Matsuyama, Ehime

At midnight on the first day a great drum sounds. From then on it does not stop for seventy-two hours, night or day. Iy

Gathering Chubu Y

02/13–02/14

Yakuyoke Jizo at Entakuji: The Night the Statue Can Hear

The temple is called Entakuji, and it stands on the slope above Yumura, a hot spring quarter on the northern edge of Kof

Gathering Chubu T

02/14–02/14

Toba Fire Festival: Reading the Year Out of a Burning Tower

The sea at Toba is close enough that the men go down to it first. They wade in — February, Mikawa Bay, late afternoon —

Festival Other G

02/14–03/07

Goto Camellia Festival

Fukue Island and across the Goto Islands, Goto, Nagasaki

The islands fill with camellias. The Goto Islands of Nagasaki are a scattering of more than a hundred and forty islands

Festival Tohoku Y

02/15–02/16

Yokote Kamakura Festival: Rooms Made of Winter

City hall area, Haguro-cho, and sites across Yokote, Akita

In Yokote, deep in the snow country of Akita, February brings rooms made of winter. Kamakura are snow huts, some three m

Festival Tohoku H

02/17–02/20

Hachinohe Enburi: Going Out into the Snow to Call In Spring

Central Hachinohe and Chojasan Shinra Shrine, Aomori

In Hachinohe, on the snowbound Pacific coast of Aomori, spring does not arrive on its own. It has to be summoned. From F

Gathering Chubu N

02/20–02/23

Nagano Tomyo Lantern Festival

The Nagano Tomyo Matsuri was born from the memory of the 1998 Winter Olympics. When the Games came to Nagano, they left

Festival Kinki S

02/20–02/20

Saidaiji Eyo Naked Festival

Saidaiji Kannon-in, 3-8-8 Saidaiji-naka, Higashi-ku, Okayama

On the third Saturday of February, thousands of men in loincloths pack the great hall of Saidaiji Kannon-in temple in Ok

Festival Chubu K

02/27–02/28

Katsuyama Sagicho Festival

Central Katsuyama, Fukui

In the last days of February, deep in the snow country of Fukui, a castle town does something unexpected: it throws a pa

Festival Kyushu K

02/28–02/28

Kihara Fudoson Spring Festival

Ganeisan Chojuji, 2040 Kihara, Tomiai, Minami-ku, Kumamoto City

At the end of February, people walk barefoot over fire. Tomiai, in the south of Kumamoto City. The temple's proper name

March 2027 11 events

Festival Kinki O

03/01–03/14

Omizutori (Shuni-e at Todai-ji)

Nigatsu-do, Todai-ji, Nara, Nara

Since the year 752, the monks of Todai-ji have not missed a spring. The Shuni-e, better known as Omizutori, runs from Ma

Festival Kanto S

03/01–03/31

Sawara Old Town and Sake Brewery

Along the river, the Edo period remains. Sawara grew rich on the water trade of the Tone River, a town of merchant hous

Festival Kinki O

03/02–03/02

Omizu-okuri Water-Sending Rite

Jinguji Temple & Unose, Obama, Fukui

Nara's famous Omizu-tori — the water-drawing rite that ends winter at Todai-ji — has a sender, and the sender is here. E

Market Kanto J

03/03–03/04

Jindaiji Daruma Market

Jindaiji Temple, Chofu, Tokyo

Look closely at a daruma from Jindaiji and you will find that its left eye is not a black dot but a written character: t

Gathering Chubu H

03/06–03/06

Hadaka Oshiai at Urasa: Heat Made by Hand in Deep Snow

In March there is still snow in Minamiuonuma — not a dusting but a whole season's accumulation, walls of it along the ro

Gathering Kanto T

03/07–03/07

Tokyo Marathon

There is a way of knowing a city that only comes from running through it. The Tokyo Marathon, one of the six World Marat

Festival Kanto S

03/09–03/09

Saitosai Festival at Kashima Jingu

Kashima Jingu, Kashima, Ibaraki

The sound is the thing you remember: twenty squads of fifteen men in brilliant costume, singing an ancient refrain — iya

Festival Tohoku H

03/10–03/10

Hote Matsuri (Shiogama Rough Mikoshi)

Shiogama Jinja, Shiogama, Miyagi

On March 10 each year, a portable shrine weighing a full ton descends 202 stone steps. This is the Hote Matsuri of Shiog

Festival Kanto M

03/14–03/14

Mt. Takao Fire-Walking Festival

Yakuoin prayer grounds, Mt. Takao, Hachioji, Tokyo

Most festivals ask you to watch. This one, at the foot of Mt. Takao on the second Sunday of March, ends by inviting you

Gathering Chubu H

03/15–03/15

Honensai at Tagata Shrine: The Oldest Request, Undisguised

There is a shrine in Komaki, in the flat farming country north of Nagoya, dedicated to a god of harvests and to a woman

Festival Chugoku D

03/19–03/21

Dogo Onsen Festival

Dogo Onsen Honkan and surroundings, 5-6 Dogo Yunomachi, Matsuyama, Ehime

On the morning of the nineteenth of March, they thank the water. Dogo Onsen, Matsuyama, the oldest hot spring town in J

Year-round

Every summer evening from July 11 to September 5 — thirty-one nights in all — music rises from the streets of Gujo Hachi

Market Chubu J

Daily

Jinya-mae Morning Market

岐阜県高山市八軒町1-5

Every morning, farmers come down from the mountain villages and set up their stalls in front of a government house that

Market Shikoku K

Every Sun

Kochi Sunday Market

Otesujii, Kochi City, Kochi

Every Sunday morning, the boulevard leading to Kochi Castle becomes a different kind of road. Both lanes are closed to

Community Chubu M

Daily

Miyagawa Morning Market

Miyagawa riverside (Kajibashi to Yayoibashi), Shimosan-no-machi, Takayama, Gifu

White canvas stalls line the east bank of the Miyagawa River for seven hundred meters, from Kajibashi bridge to Yayoibas

Market Kanto K

Daily (closed Wed)

Katsuura Morning Market

Shimohoncho and Nakahoncho streets, Katsuura, Chiba

In the fishing town of Katsuura on the Boso Peninsula, a morning market has been held almost every day since 1591. It w

Market Hokkaido H

Daily

Hakodate Morning Market

9-19 Wakamatsu-cho, Hakodate, Hokkaido

One minute on foot from Hakodate Station, and the city changes register entirely. About 250 stalls spread across roughl

Market Chubu O

Daily

Omicho Market

50 Kami-Omichocho, Kanazawa, Ishikawa

Locals call it Omicho. The market opened in 1721, during the era of the Kaga domain, when a fire destroyed several mark

Community Kinki T

Monthly (21)

Toji Kobo-ichi Flea Market

1 Kujo-cho, Minami-ku, Kyoto (To-ji Temple grounds)

On the 21st of every month, the grounds of To-ji Temple become a market. More than a thousand stalls. Antiques, old too

Market Okinawa M

Daily

Makishi Public Market

2-10-1 Matsuo, Naha, Okinawa

In Okinawa, a market is called a machigwaa. Step inside, and the fish on the counters are colors you won't find on the

Gathering Chubu E

Year-round

Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale

Tokamachi, Niigata (Echigo-Tsumari region)

Echigo-Tsumari sits in the mountains along the border of Niigata and Nagano prefectures — a region of extraordinary snow

Residency Other O

Year-round

Otona Shima Ryugaku — Island Living Program

Ama-cho, Oki Islands, Shimane

The island's unofficial motto is "Nai mono wa nai" — what isn't here, isn't needed. It's a quiet provocation, aimed at e

Tono is a town in the mountains of Iwate Prefecture that seems to remember things other places have forgotten. It was he

Festival Tohoku N

毎年2月第2金・土・日曜

Namahage Sedo Festival

Shinzan Shrine, Kitaura Shinzan, Oga, Akita

The Oga Peninsula in winter is a different country. Cold comes in off the Japan Sea, the cedar forests around Shinzan Sh

Festival Tohoku S

例年5月最終土・日・月曜

Soma Nomaoi — The Wild Horse Chase

Hibaragahara Festival Grounds & Soma Nakamura Shrine, Minamisoma / Soma, Fukushima

The origin story is a thousand years old: Taira no Masakado, the warlord, released wild horses on the plains of what is

Festival Chubu O

Daily

Ojiya Bullfighting (Ushi no Tsukiai)

Ojiya Bullfighting Arena, Oguriyama, Ojiya, Niigata

There is no winner. Every bout ends in a draw. In the mountains of Echigo, a tradition said to be nearly a thousand year

Festival Chugoku I

Daily

Iwami Kagura

Across the Iwami region of western Shimane (Hamada, Masuda, Oda and others)

Serpents writhe across the entire stage. In the Iwami region of western Shimane, performers in dazzling masks and embroi

Festival Kyushu T

毎年11月中旬〜2月上旬

Takachiho Night Kagura

Takachiho Shrine and village communities, Takachiho, Miyazaki

In the land where the myths were born, people dance through the night. Takachiho in Miyazaki is held to be the place whe

Market Kinki N

Daily (closed Wed)

Nishiki Market

Nishikikoji-dori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto

It has long been called Kyoto's kitchen. Nishiki Market runs about three hundred and ninety meters under its arcade, lin

Market Kinki H

Every 2th Sat

Heian Flea Market

Okazaki Park, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto

Once a month, someone's past gathers in a plaza. At Okazaki Park in Kyoto, the Heian Flea Market sets up on the second S

Market Kanto F

Every Sat & Sun

Farmer's Market at the United Nations University

United Nations University plaza, 5-53-70 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

In the middle of the city, you can talk to the people who grew it. In Aoyama, Tokyo, on the plaza before the United Nati

Market Kanto T

Daily

Tokyo Flea Market

Keiokaku, 4-31-1 Tamagawa, Chofu, Tokyo

Old things alone draw this many people. In Chofu, Tokyo, twice a year, in spring and autumn, the Tokyo Flea Market is he

Market Kanto T

Daily (closed Sun)

Tsukiji Outer Market

Tsukiji 4-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

The market moved, but the town remained. In Tsukiji, Tokyo, there once stood one of the world's largest fish markets. In

Market Kinki K

Daily

Kuromon Market

Nipponbashi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Osaka

People call it Osaka's kitchen. Kuromon Market stretches about five hundred and eighty meters, lined with some hundred a

Market Kanto D

Daily

Design Festa

Tokyo Big Sight, 3-11-1 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo

Whether it is good or not is beside the point. The only question is whether you made it. At Tokyo Big Sight, twice a yea

Market Chugoku K

Every 1th Sun

Kurashiki Tenryo Morning Market

Around the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter, Honmachi, Kurashiki, Okayama

In a town of white walls, a morning market sets up. Kurashiki in Okayama prospered in the Edo period as a tenryo, a terr

Gathering Tohoku T

Daily

Towada Oirase Art Festival

Lake Towada, Oirase Gorge and the city center, Towada, Aomori

The sound of the mountain stream becomes part of the work. In Towada, Aomori, lies Lake Towada and the Oirase Gorge that

Gathering Kyushu K

Daily

Kunisaki Peninsula Art Festival

Kunisaki, Bungotakada and the Kunisaki Peninsula, Oita

In a land of Buddhas, contemporary art takes up residence. The Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita is a round peninsula jutting i

Gathering Chubu N

Daily

Northern Alps Art Festival

Omachi and the surrounding hills and lakes, Nagano

In a town raised by snowmelt, you look at art. Omachi in Nagano sits right at the foot of the Northern Alps, peaks of th

Gathering Tohoku Y

Daily

Yamagata Biennale

Tohoku University of Art and Design and venues across Yamagata City

A university opens up a town. In Yamagata City, an art festival is held once every two years, organized by the Tohoku Un

Gathering Kanto K

Daily

KENPOKU ART (Ibaraki North Art Festival)

Northern Ibaraki, including Hitachi, Hitachiota, and Daigo

Sea and mountains: two faces in a single festival. Northern Ibaraki has a coastal area facing the Pacific and a mountain

Residency Kinki N

Daily

Nishiawakura Local Venture Program

Nishiawakura, Aida District, Okayama

A village that did not abandon its forest is calling the young. Nishiawakura in Okayama is a small mountain village of a

Residency Chubu N

Daily

Nanmoku Mountain Village Study Program

Nanmoku, Kanra District, Gunma

From the most aged village in Japan. Nanmoku in Gunma is said to have one of the highest proportions of elderly resident

Residency Other G

Daily

Goto Islands Farming and Fishing Life Experience

Fukue Island and the Goto Islands, Goto, Nagasaki

A life with both sea and field. The Goto Islands of Nagasaki are a scattering of more than a hundred and forty islands i

Residency Tohoku K

Daily

Kesennuma Fisherman Experience

Kesennuma, Miyagi

Betrayed by the sea, and still living with the sea. Kesennuma in Miyagi is a port town of Tohoku with one of the world's

Residency Chubu H

Daily

Hida-Furukawa Artisan Town Stay

Furukawa, Hida, Gifu

In a town where carp swim, you face the wood. Hida-Furukawa in Gifu has rows of white-walled storehouses, and hundreds o

Residency Kinki Y

Daily

Yoshino Forestry Experience

Yoshino, Yoshino District, Nara

Looking five hundred years ahead, you plant a tree. Yoshino in Nara is famous for its cherry blossoms. But it is also a

Workshop Kyushu A

Daily

Arita Porcelain Kiln Tour and Painting Experience

Arita, Nishimatsuura District, Saga

Japanese porcelain began in this town. Arita in Saga is where, four hundred years ago, Japan's first porcelain was fired

Workshop Kanto M

Daily

Mashiko Pottery Experience

Mashiko, Haga District, Tochigi

Beauty in the vessels of everyday use. Mashiko in Tochigi is a leading pottery town of the Kanto region, with many studi

Workshop Kinki N

Daily

Nishijin Textile Experience

Nishijin district, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto

A single thread becomes a pattern like a cosmos. Nishijin in Kyoto is the home of the luxury silk textile called Nishiji

Workshop Tohoku N

Daily

Nanbu Ironware Foundry Tour

Mizusawa, Oshu, Iwate

Black, heavy, made to last a lifetime. Oshu in Iwate is the home of Nanbu ironware, known above all for iron kettles. Na

Workshop Chugoku H

Daily

Hagi Ware Climbing Kiln Experience

Hagi, Yamaguchi

One of the vessels most loved by tea masters. Hagi in Yamaguchi is the home of Hagi ware, long held in high regard in th

Gathering Tohoku R

Daily

Reborn-Art Festival

Oshika Peninsula and central Ishinomaki, Miyagi

On the scars of the tsunami, art rises. Ishinomaki in Miyagi, and the Oshika Peninsula, were struck hard by the Great Ea

Festival Chugoku T

毎年7月

Tsuwano Sagi-mai: The Heron Dance

Yasaka Shrine, Tsuwano, Kanoashi, Shimane

Two men dressed as white herons enter the stream that runs through the center of Tsuwano. Their wings open slowly as the

Festival Hokkaido S

毎年1月下旬〜3月中旬

Sounkyo Ice Waterfall Festival

Sounkyo Onsen, Kamikawa, Hokkaido

In January, something is built in the gorge. The canyon walls of Sounkyo become in winter the frame for an ice festival

Festival Tohoku A

毎年2月中旬の金・土

Aizu Painted Candle Festival

Tsurugajo Castle and Oyakuen Garden, Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima

They are painted with flowers — peonies, chrysanthemums, the blossoms of seasons not yet arrived. Each February these Ai

Festival Okinawa M

日程は公式発表による

Miyakojima Paantu: The God Who Marks You

Ueno Nohara, Miyakojima City, Okinawa

The deity appears from the forest covered in mud — thick, ancient mud drawn from a sacred well. Paantu moves through the

Festival Kanto S

毎年7月（本祭）・10月（秋祭）

Sawara Grand Festival: Floats on the Waterway

Suwa Shrine / Yasaka Shrine, Sawara, Katori City, Chiba

The floats barely fit through the streets. This is the defining experience of the Sawara Grand Festival: watching a stru

Festival Tohoku N

毎年8月6・7日

Noshiro Tanabata: Towers of Light in Akita

Noshiro City, Akita

Twenty-four meters. That is the height of the largest lantern tower that moves through the streets of Noshiro on the nig

Festival Okinawa Y

例年7月〜8月（島によって異なる）

Yaeyama Hoonen-sai: Harvest Offerings at the Edge of Japan

Ishigaki City and Taketomi Town, Okinawa (held on individual islands)

In the Yaeyama islands — Japan's southwestern edge, closer to Taiwan than to Tokyo — each community holds its own harves

Market Chugoku D

毎朝（通年）

Dogo Onsen Morning Market

Dogo Yunomachi, Matsuyama, Ehime

Dogo Onsen is one of the oldest hot springs in Japan — old enough to appear in the Man'yoshu poetry anthology, old enoug

Market Kyushu Y

月〜土 8:00〜17:00頃（日曜・祝日定休）

Yanagibashi Market: Where Hakata's Chefs Begin Their Day

1 Haruyoshi, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City

Before the restaurants open, the chefs of Hakata come here. Yanagibashi Rengo-ichiba has been supplying Fukuoka's food i

Market Kanto S

不定期（月1〜2回）

Shimokitazawa Vintage Market: The Neighborhood as Archive

Around Shimokitazawa Station, Setagaya, Tokyo

Shimokitazawa is the neighborhood that Tokyo's musicians, actors, and writers moved to before they were successful, and

Market Chugoku M

4月〜11月の毎週日曜（早朝）

Matsue Morning Market: Mist on the Canal

Along Fukuro River, Matsue City, Shimane

The mist from Lake Shinji moves through Matsue before the city wakes. Matsue is built on water — canals, the Ōhashi Rive

Market Tohoku M

毎週土曜 15:00〜20:00（5月〜11月）

Morioka Zaimokucho Evening Market: The City's Living Room

Zaimokucho, Morioka City, Iwate

On Saturday afternoons from May through November, the Zaimokucho district of Morioka becomes something between a market

Market Tohoku S

毎週土曜（早朝〜午前中）

Sendai Wholesale Market: Open to Everyone on Saturdays

Oroshimachi, Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai, Miyagi

The Sendai wholesale market operates six days a week supplying the city's restaurants and hotels. On Saturday mornings,

Market Tohoku N

週末・祝日（4月〜11月）

Nasu Kogen Farmers Market: The New Countryside

Nasu Town, Nasu-gun, Tochigi

The farmers at the Nasu Kogen market did not all grow up farming. A significant portion moved here from Tokyo — people w

Market Okinawa I

毎日（通年）

Ishigaki Euglena Mall: The Kitchen of the Yaeyamas

Near Ishigaki Public Market, Okawa, Ishigaki City, Okinawa

Before the ferry to Taketomi or Iriomote or any of the outer Yaeyama islands, stop at the market. The covered arcade nea

Market Chubu K

毎月第1日曜（早朝〜午前中）

Kasugai Mitake Onsen Morning Market: First Sunday of Every Month

Mitake Onsen grounds, Uchinai, Kasugai City, Aichi

Once a month, on the first Sunday, the grounds of Mitake Onsen in Kasugai become a morning market. Farmers from the surr

Market Kyushu A

週末・祝日（通年）

Aoshima Morning Market

Aoshima, Miyazaki City, Miyazaki

Miyazaki grows mangoes that the rest of Japan considers luxury items. At the morning market near Aoshima Shrine, they ar

Market Chugoku K

毎月第1日曜

Kurashiki Bikan Quarter Craft Market

Honmachi, Kurashiki City, Okayama

Kurashiki's Bikan district is one of Japan's most photographed historic streetscapes — white-walled warehouses reflected

Market Kinki K

不定期（月1〜2回）

Kobe Kitano Antique Market

Kitanocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo

Kobe's Kitano district was built for the foreign traders who arrived after the port opened in the 1860s. Their houses —

Market Hokkaido H

通年（夏〜秋に屋外マルシェ開催）

Hakodate Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse Marché

14-12 Suehirocho, Hakodate City, Hokkaido

The Kanemori warehouses were built for trade when Hakodate was Japan's first major port to open to the West. They are re

Market Hokkaido A

通年（早朝〜午前中）

Asahikawa Asappa Farm Direct Market

Kagura, Asahikawa City, Hokkaido

The Tokachi plain to the south and the Kamikawa basin that surrounds Asahikawa are among Japan's most productive agricul

Market Chugoku H

不定期（月1〜2回）

Hiroshima Asagiri Bridge Flea Market

Along Motoyasu River, Naka-ku, Hiroshima City

The market runs along the Motoyasu River, within sight of the Atomic Bomb Dome. This proximity is not ironic; it is simp

Market Okinawa T

通年（各工房が常設営業）

Tsuboya Yachimun Street: Okinawa's Living Pottery District

Tsuboya, Naha City, Okinawa

Yachimun is the Okinawan word for pottery, and Tsuboya is where it has been made for three hundred years. The district s

Market Kyushu N

不定期（月1〜2回）

Nagasaki Megane-bashi Bridge Flea Market

Along Nakashima River near Megane-bashi, Nagasaki City

The Megane-bashi — the Spectacles Bridge, named for the double arch reflected in the water — was built in 1634 by Chines

Gathering Chugoku I

通年（2〜4月初旬に架け替えあり）

Iya Kazurabashi: The Vine Bridge of the Hidden Valley

162-2 Zentoku, Nishi-Iyayama, Miyoshi City, Tokushima

The bridge is made entirely of mountain vines, woven and suspended over a gorge that drops fourteen meters to the river

Gathering Kinki A

3月下旬〜4月上旬（菜の花）、10月（コスモス）

Asuka Fujiwara Palace Ruins: A Field of Canola in Spring

Takadono, Kashihara City, Nara

The Fujiwara Palace was Japan's first permanent capital, built in 694 and abandoned thirty years later when the court mo

Gathering Tohoku T

通年（フェリーで約50分）

Tashirojima: The Island That Belongs to Cats

Tashirojima, Ishinomaki City, Miyagi

The human population of Tashirojima is roughly sixty, most of them elderly. The cat population is comparable. The cats a

Gathering Chugoku I

例年11月下旬〜12月上旬

Izumo Taisha: The Month When All Gods Arrive

195 Kizukihigashi, Taisha-cho, Izumo City, Shimane

In the tenth month of the lunar calendar, Japan's eight million gods converge on Izumo. The rest of the country calls th

Gathering Kinki I

通年（月曜休）

Inujima Art Project: Ruins as Canvas

Inujima, Higashi-ku, Okayama City, Okayama

Inujima had a copper refinery that operated for just a decade before closing in 1919, leaving behind smokestacks and fur

Gathering Shikoku S

4月〜10月（通年催行あり）

Shimanto River Canoe Experience

Shimanto City and Shimanto Town, Kochi

The Shimanto is called Japan's last truly clear river, and the description is precise: no large dams interrupt its flow

Gathering Chubu T

4月中旬〜6月下旬

Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route: The Snow Corridor

Murodo, Tateyama Alpine Route, Toyama

Each spring, Japan turns a snow-removal project into a pilgrimage. The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, threading the North

Gathering Chugoku M

例年7月中旬〜8月上旬

Miyajima Kangen-sai: Court Music on the Sea

Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima

The deity of Itsukushima Shrine travels by boat. On the evening of the Kangen-sai, a procession of vessels carrying musi

Gathering Kyushu A

通年（火山活動状況により立入制限あり）

Aso Kusasenri: The Grassland at the Volcano's Edge

Kusasenrigahama, Aso City, Kumamoto

The Aso caldera is one of the largest in the world, and Kusasenri sits inside it — a circular meadow on the flank of an

Gathering Hokkaido B

6月〜9月（メインシーズン）

Biei Panorama Hill Cycling Tour

Biei Town, Kamikawa, Hokkaido

The hills of Biei roll in long slow curves — wheat fields giving way to potato fields giving way to sunflower fields, th

Gathering Chubu G

通年（12月〜3月は冬季ライトアップあり）

Gero Onsen Gassho Village

2369 Mori, Gero City, Gifu

Gero is one of Japan's three most celebrated hot spring towns, which means most visitors come for the baths and leave wi

Gathering Other R

通年（8:30〜17:00）

Ryusendo Cave: Underground Lake of Iwate

1-1 Kannari, Iwaizumi-cho, Shimohei-gun, Iwate

Deep inside the mountain, the cave opens into a lake. The water is so clear that the measured visibility exceeds ninety-

Workshop Chubu E

通年（要予約）

Echizen Washi: Making Paper in a Valley That Has Made Paper for 1,500 Years

8-44 Shizaike, Echizen City, Fukui

The Echizen valley has been making paper for fifteen hundred years — a claim that sounds like marketing until you see th

Workshop Kinki B

通年（各窯元により異なる）

Bizen Yaki: Touching a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition

Imbe, Bizen City, Okayama

Bizen ware uses no glaze and no painted decoration. The colors — the ash glazes that form naturally, the flame marks, th

Workshop Kyushu I

通年（砂蒸し会館砂楽）

Ibusuki Sand Bath: Being Buried by the Volcanic Earth

5-25-18 Yunohama, Ibusuki City, Kagoshima

You lie down on the beach in a yukata. The attendant begins to cover you with sand — dark volcanic sand, naturally heate

Workshop Chubu M

通年（各体験施設による）

Mino Ware: Shaping the Dishes Japan Eats From

Hisashiri, Izumi, Toki City, Gifu

Sixty percent of Japan's ceramic tableware comes from the Mino region — the dishes in most Japanese restaurants, the cup

Workshop Okinawa R

通年（要予約の場合あり）

Ryukyu Glass: Blowing Something Beautiful from Broken Bottles

Nishizaki, Itoman City, Okinawa

After the war, there was glass everywhere — bottles discarded by American military bases. Okinawan craftspeople melted t

Workshop Kyushu K

通年（各工房により異なる）

Kurume Kasuri: Weaving with Indigo-Dyed Thread

Kurume City, Fukuoka

Kurume kasuri begins with thread. Specifically, with thread that has been bound at intervals before dyeing — the bound s

Workshop Kanto E

通年（各工房により異なる）

Edo Kiriko: Cutting Glass the Way Tokyo Once Did

Sumida-ku / Koto-ku, Tokyo

The grinding wheel turns, and you press the glass against it. The glass resists, then yields — a shallow cut forming, ca

Workshop Kanto Y

通年（要予約）

Yuki Tsumugi: Threading the Oldest Silk Loom in Japan

Yuki City, Ibaraki

Yuki tsumugi begins with the cocoon. The silk is drawn by hand from the cocoons, spun by hand into thread, and woven on

Workshop Kyushu O

通年（各窯元により異なる）

Onta Yaki: Pottery at a Mill-Powered Kiln

Sarayama, Motosakae, Hita City, Oita

Nine kilns. That is all there are, and all there will be. The Sarayama valley in the mountains above Hita City has produ

Workshop Chubu S

通年（各体験施設による）

Shigaraki Yaki: Firing a Kiln That Has Burned for Eight Centuries

Shigaraki-cho, Koka City, Shiga

Shigaraki is known throughout Japan for one thing: the ceramic raccoon dogs that stand outside restaurants and shops, ar

Workshop Shikoku T

通年（要予約）

Tosa Washi: Making Paper at the Source of Japan's Finest

Ino Town, Agawa-gun, Kochi

Tosa washi is made from the water of the Niyodo River system — one of the clearest rivers in Japan, running from the lim

Workshop Kyushu A

通年（体験事業者により異なる）

Amakusa Pottery Stone: Finding the Material That Made Arita Famous

Amakusa City, Kumamoto

The whiteness of Arita porcelain comes from here. Amakusa pottery stone — a white mineral found in the islands of wester

Workshop Kinki A

通年（各工房により異なる）

Awa Ai: Dyeing with Japan's Most Famous Indigo

Tokushima City and Yoshinogawa river valley, Tokushima

The Yoshino River valley in Tokushima was once Japan's largest indigo-producing region, supplying the blue that dyed the

Workshop Kyushu S

通年（要予約）

Satsuma Kiriko: The Glass That Disappeared and Returned

Kagoshima City, Kagoshima

Satsuma kiriko was invented in the 1840s by the Satsuma domain, which brought in European glassworkers to develop a luxu

Workshop Chubu W

通年（各工房の復旧状況による）

Wajima Chinkin: Engraving Gold into Lacquer After the Earthquake

Wajima City, Ishikawa

The January 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake damaged Wajima severely — buildings collapsed, fires spread through the histo

Workshop Chubu K

通年（各体験施設による）

Kiso Lacquerware: Painting with Tree Sap in a Postroad Town

Narai, Shiojiri City / Kisomura, Nagano

The Kiso Valley was a section of the Nakasendo — one of the two great highways between Edo and Kyoto — and its post town

Workshop Chugoku I

通年（各体験施設による）

Imabari Towel: Dyeing at the Source of Japan's Finest Cotton

Imabari City, Ehime

Imabari produces more towels than anywhere else in Japan, and has been producing them since the late nineteenth century

Residency Kinki N

通年（要事前申込）

Nishiawakura: Living the Rural Revival From the Inside

Nishiawakura Village, Aida-gun, Okayama

Nishiawakura Village has a population of roughly fifteen hundred and a reputation, among people interested in rural rege

Residency Hokkaido T

6月〜9月（メインシーズン）

Tokachi Farmstay: Sleeping in Japan's Bread Basket

Otofuke and Obihiro area, Tokachi, Hokkaido

The Tokachi plain is Japan's agricultural heartland — wheat, potatoes, dairy, sugar beet, production at a scale that the

Residency Kinki K

通年

Kamiyama: The Village That Reinvented Itself for Remote Work

Kamiyama Town, Myozai-gun, Tokushima

Kamiyama is a small mountain town in Tokushima with a population under two thousand and a reputation, in certain circles

Residency Chubu O

通年

Obuse: The Small Town That Chose Art and Kept Its Soul

Obuse Town, Kamitakai-gun, Nagano

Obuse is a town of ten thousand people in northern Nagano, and it receives more visitors than a town of that size would

Residency Chugoku O

通年

Ohnan: Where Japan's Countryside Is Trying Something New

Ohnan Town, Ochi-gun, Shimane

Ohnan Town in the mountains of Shimane has a population under ten thousand and a food-based regeneration strategy that h

Residency Shikoku T

通年（天候・漁期による）

Tosa Shimizu: A Few Days in the Life of a Fisherman

Tosa Shimizu City, Kochi

The fishing boats leave before dawn. The catch depends on the season, the weather, and the skill of the crew. The market

Residency Tohoku G

通年

Gojome: Half Farming, Half Whatever You Want to Be

Gojome Town, Minamiakita-gun, Akita

The concept of han-nou han-X — half farming, half whatever else you want to do — was developed as a philosophy of rural

Residency Kinki W

通年

Wakasa: Sleeping in a Farmhouse That Someone Brought Back to Life

Wakasa Town, Mikata-kami-gun, Fukui

The farmhouses of the Wakasa Town area have been standing for generations — thick-beamed structures built for the winter

Residency Kyushu A

通年

Aya: Japan's Organic Farming Pioneer

Aya Town, Higashi-Morokata-gun, Miyazaki

Aya Town began its commitment to organic agriculture in the 1980s — a decision by the town government, supported by loca

Residency Kyushu O

通年

Ojika Island: A Slow Life on Japan's Most Beautiful Rural Inn

Ojika Town, Kitamatsuura-gun, Nagasaki

Ojika Island sits in the northern part of the Goto archipelago, more than three hours by ferry from Sasebo. The journey

Residency Tohoku T

通年

Tono: Sleeping Inside Japan's Most Famous Folktale Landscape

Tono City, Iwate

Tono is the setting of Yanagita Kunio's 'Legends of Tono,' published in 1910 — a collection of folktales gathered from l

Residency Hokkaido H

通年

Higashikawa: The Town That Grows Furniture and People

Higashikawa Town, Kamikawa-gun, Hokkaido

Higashikawa Town's population has been growing while most of rural Hokkaido's has been declining. The reasons are multip

Residency Kyushu M

通年

Minami-Oguni: Long Stay in Japan's Most Beloved Onsen Village

Minami-Oguni Town, Aso-gun, Kumamoto

Kurokawa Onsen sits in a narrow valley in the mountains of South Oguni, a small town in the Aso region of Kumamoto. The

Residency Tohoku T

通年

Tsuruoka: Japan's UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

Tsuruoka City, Yamagata

Tsuruoka has more than two hundred varieties of heirloom vegetables — crops that have been cultivated in this region for

Residency Shikoku U

通年

Uchiko: Living in a Town That Decided to Stay Itself

Uchiko Town, Kita-gun, Ehime

Uchiko's main historic street survived the twentieth century largely intact because the town made a series of decisions,

Residency Chubu S

通年

Sado Island: Where Gold, Noh, and Terraced Rice Fields Meet

Sado City, Niigata

Sado Island sits in the Sea of Japan off the Niigata coast, large enough to have its own distinct geography — a northern

Residency Other A

通年

Amami Oshima: Music and Jungle at the Edge of the Tropics

Amami City and Yamato Village, Kagoshima

Amami Oshima is not Okinawa and not the Japanese mainland; it is the largest island of an archipelago with its own disti

Residency Okinawa K

通年

Kudaka Island: The Island at the Center of Ryukyuan Spiritual Life

Kudaka Island, Nanjo City, Okinawa

Kudaka Island is five square kilometers, accessible by ferry from the southern Okinawa coast, home to roughly two hundre

Residency Chubu I

通年（公演は主に春〜秋）

Iida: Where Every Village Has Its Own Puppet Theater

Iida City, Nagano

Iida City in southern Nagano is said to have more than two hundred puppet theater groups distributed across its villages

Residency Chugoku H

通年

Hagi: Living in the Town That Made Modern Japan

Hagi City, Yamaguchi

The men who made the Meiji Restoration were disproportionately from Hagi. Yoshida Shoin, whose private academy produced

Festival Tohoku O

毎年4月上旬〜中旬（桜の開花に合わせる）

Okawara Hitome Senbon Zakura: A Thousand Cherry Trees in One Glance

Shiroishi River embankment, Ogawara Town, Shibata-gun, Miyagi

The name means 'a thousand trees visible in a single glance,' and along the eight kilometers of the Shiroishi River emba

Festival Tohoku T

毎年4月下旬（さくらまつり期間中）

Tendo Human Shogi: Living Pieces on a Giant Board

Maizuruyama Park, Tendo City, Yamagata

Tendo produces more shogi pieces than anywhere else in Japan, and the Human Shogi festival is the city's annual celebrat

Festival Tohoku S

毎年12月上旬〜31日

Sendai Pageant of Starlight: Six Hundred Thousand Lights in Zelkova Trees

Jozenji-dori Avenue, Aoba-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi

The zelkova trees that line Jozenji-dori, Sendai's most elegant boulevard, are bare in December. From early in the month

Festival Kyushu C

毎年2月下旬〜3月上旬

Chiran Hina Matsuri: Samurai Town Dolls

Chiran Town, Minami-Kyushu City, Kagoshima

The samurai district of Chiran — stone-walled garden paths, carefully maintained machiya houses, one of the best-preserv

Festival Other T

年数回（1月〜2月・5月・9月ほか）

Tokunoshima Bullfighting: Where Bulls Compete, Not Matadors

Tokunoshima Island, Oshima-gun, Kagoshima

Tokunoshima's bullfighting is not the Spanish kind. The bulls fight each other, not a human opponent, and the match ends

Festival Hokkaido O

通年（週末・祝日が中心）

Obihiro Banei Racing: The Only Draft Horse Race in the World

Obihiro Racecourse, Nishi-13-jo Minami 9, Obihiro City, Hokkaido

Banei racing exists nowhere else in the world. The horses are draft breeds — heavy, powerful, built for pulling rather t

Festival Kinki I

通年（舟屋日和などのイベントは季節限定）

Ine Funaya: Houses That Open Directly onto the Sea

Ine Town, Yosa-gun, Kyoto

The funaya of Ine Bay are houses built directly over the water, with their ground floors serving as garages for fishing

Market Tohoku H

4月〜11月（定期開催）

Hirosaki Dote no Ichi: The Market That Outlasted the Feudal Doma

Dotecho shopping district, Hirosaki City, Aomori

Hirosaki is the center of Japan's apple-growing region, and the market at Dotecho brings this fact into the city with a

Market Tohoku A

毎週日曜（通年）

Aizu Nanukamaichi Morning Market: Two Hundred Years on the Same Street

Nanukamaichi, Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima

The Nanukamaichi morning market has been running every Sunday for more than two hundred years, which means it has contin

Market Kanto O

毎月第1・第3土曜（不定期あり）

Omiya Hikawa Shrine Antique Market: Sacred Ground, Old Things

Musashi Ichinomiya Hikawa Shrine, Omiya-ku, Saitama City, Saitama

The approach to Hikawa Shrine extends for more than two kilometers through Omiya — a zelkova-lined path that is one of t

Market Kanto Y

季節ごとに開催（春・秋が中心）

Yokohama Yamashita Park Marché: Port City Produce by the Sea

Yamashita Park, Naka-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa

Yamashita Park runs along the Yokohama waterfront, with the passenger ship terminal visible to the north and the bay ope

Festival Kinki N

例年8月中旬

Naniwa Yodogawa Fireworks Festival

Yodo River, Osaka

The people made this one themselves. The Yodogawa fireworks began in 1989 not as a municipal project but as a grassroots

Festival Kinki H

例年7月下旬

Himeji Minato Festival Sea Fireworks

Himeji Port, Himeji, Hyogo

This is the sea festival of the city of the white castle. Himeji is crowned by its great fortress—a World Heritage site,

Festival Chubu N

例年8月上旬

North Lake Biwa Grand Fireworks Festival

Nagahama Port, Nagahama, Shiga

Fire reflects in the largest lake in Japan. Lake Biwa is vast—an inland sea in all but name—and on its northern shore, f

Festival Kanto A

例年2月・4月・5月・7月〜12月

Atami Sea Fireworks Festival

Atami Bay, Atami, Shizuoka

The fireworks thunder at the bottom of a bowl. Atami is a hot-spring town wedged between mountains and sea, and its bay

Festival Kanto O

例年7月下旬〜8月

Oarai Sea Fireworks Festival

Oarai Sun Beach, Oarai, Ibaraki

Fireworks stand up against the Pacific. Oarai is a seaside town on the Ibaraki coast, and what opens before it is the gr

Festival Kanto T

例年7月中旬

Tonegawa Grand Fireworks Festival

Tone River, Sakai, Ibaraki

This is the grand stage of Bando Taro. That was the old name for the Tone River—"Bando Taro," the eldest son of the east

Festival Hokkaido H

例年8月中旬

Hokkaido Shimbun Summer Fireworks

Toyohira River, Sapporo, Hokkaido

These are fireworks for a cool summer. Sapporo's warm season is brief, and that brevity makes it precious. Along the ban

Festival Okinawa O

例年7月中旬

Okinawa Kanasa Fireworks

Ginowan Seaside Park, Ginowan, Okinawa

"Kanasa" means beloved. In the Okinawan language, kanasan is the word for something dear, something cherished—and the fi

Festival Kanto K

例年10月上旬

Konosu Fireworks Festival

Arakawa Riverbank, Konosu, Saitama

The largest shell in the world rises here. Konosu, on the wide gravel banks of the Arakawa River in Saitama, ends its di

Festival Chubu T

例年7月中旬

Toyohashi Gion Festival Hand-Held Fireworks

Yoshida Shrine, Toyohashi, Aichi

Here a man holds the fireworks in his arms. The tezutsu is a hand-held firework—gunpowder packed into a length of bamboo

Festival Kinki A

例年8月中旬（阿波おどり前夜）

Awa Odori Eve Fireworks Festival

Shinmachi River, Tokushima City

This is the eve of the dancing fools. "The dancers are fools and the watchers are fools," goes the famous chant of the A

Festival Kinki T

例年8月中旬

Takamatsu Festival Fireworks

Sunport Takamatsu, Takamatsu, Kagawa

Fire opens over the Seto sea. Takamatsu, capital of Kagawa on the island of Shikoku, is a port town facing the Inland Se

Festival Chugoku M

例年8月中旬

Matsuyama Festival Fireworks

Shigenobu River, Matsuyama, Ehime

In the town of the Dogo hot spring, you watch the fireworks. Matsuyama, the largest city on Shikoku, is home to Dogo Ons

Festival Shikoku T

例年8月上旬（よさこい祭り前夜）

Tosa Kochi Fireworks Festival

Kagamigawa River, Kochi City

This is the herald of the Yosakoi. Kochi—the old province of Tosa—is the home of the Yosakoi festival, where dancers cla

Festival Kyushu O

例年7月下旬

Omuta Djaiyama Festival Fireworks

Suwa River, Omuta, Fukuoka

This is the summer when the great serpent breathes fire. Omuta in Fukuoka was once a coal-mining town, one of the engine

Festival Kyushu N

例年7月下旬

Nagasaki Minato Festival Sea Fireworks

Nagasaki Port, Nagasaki

Fire reflects in a foreign-touched harbor. Nagasaki was, during Japan's centuries of self-imposed isolation, the single

Festival Kyushu K

例年8月下旬

Kagoshima Kinkowan Summer Night Fireworks

Kinkowan Bay, Kagoshima City

Fireworks rise before a mountain of fire. Across Kinkowan Bay from Kagoshima stands Sakurajima—an active volcano that st

Festival Okinawa N

2026年（例年・秋〜冬の開催あり）

Naha Okinawa Fireworks Festival

Naminoue Beach, Naha, Okinawa

Fire falls on a southern sea. Naha was once the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom—an independent island nation with its own

Festival Tohoku Y

例年8月初旬（花笠まつり前後）

Yamagata Hanagasa Festival Fireworks

Mamigasaki River, Yamagata City

This is the summer of the flower hats. The Hanagasa Festival fills the streets of Yamagata with dancers holding straw ha

Festival Chubu S

例年7月下旬

Shirako Beach Fireworks Festival

Shirako Beach, Suzuka, Mie

Fire scatters over the Ise sea. Shirako, part of Suzuka in Mie, is a seaside town on Ise Bay—a place of craftsmen, famou

Festival Tohoku O

例年8月

Okitama Fireworks Festival

Mogami River, Yonezawa, Yamagata

Fireworks rise over the town of the Uesugi. Yonezawa was the castle seat of Uesugi Yozan, one of the most admired lords

craft Kinki K

通年（要予約・工房により異なる）

Kyoto Kiyomizuyaki Pottery Experience

Gojozaka, Higashiyama, Kyoto City, Kyoto

You touch the clay of a thousand-year-old capital. Along the slopes climbing toward Kiyomizu Temple, the pottery known a

craft Chubu T

通年（要予約・工房により異なる）

Tsubame-Sanjo Metal Crafts Experience

Tsubame-Sanjo, Niigata

You step into a town that makes things. Tsubame-Sanjo, two neighboring cities in Niigata, is a metalworking center known

craft Tohoku K

通年（要予約・工房により異なる）

Kakunodate Cherry Bark Craft Experience

Bukeyashiki-dori, Kakunodate, Semboku, Akita

Cherry bark becomes treasure here. Kakunodate, a town of preserved samurai residences sometimes called "the little Kyoto

craft Kanto N

通年（要予約・工房により異なる）

Nikko-bori Wood Carving Experience

Nikko City, Tochigi

You become heir to the hands that carved Toshogu. The Nikko Toshogu shrine, with its dazzling sculptures—the sleeping ca

craft Chubu M

通年（要予約）

Mino Washi Papermaking Experience

Washi no Sato Kaikan, Mino City, Gifu

You make paper that has been made for thirteen hundred years. In Mino, a town of clear rivers in Gifu, the craft of wash

craft Chubu K

通年（要予約）

Kaga Yuzen Dyeing Experience

Nagamachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa

You dye the colors of old Kaga. Kanazawa, seat of the wealthy Maeda lords who ruled the Kaga domain, nurtured its own st

craft Okinawa R

通年（要予約・工房により異なる）

Ryukyu Bingata Dyeing Experience

Shuri, Naha, Okinawa

These are the vivid colors of a southern island. Bingata is the brilliant dyeing tradition born of the Ryukyu Kingdom—ye

craft Chubu S

通年（要予約・施設により異なる）

Seki Blade Sharpening Experience

Hamono Kaikan, Seki City, Gifu

You touch the blade in the city of swords. Seki has made cutting tools for seven hundred years—once the producer of lege

craft Chugoku K

通年（要予約・筆の里工房）

Kumano Fude Brush-Making Experience

Fude no Sato Kobo, Kumano, Hiroshima

These are the brushes that touch the world's faces. Kumano, a small town in the hills of Hiroshima, produces eighty perc

craft Chubu T

通年（要予約・工房により異なる）

Tokoname Yaki Pottery Experience

Tokoname Pottery Road, Tokoname, Aichi

You knead clay in a town of chimneys. Tokoname is one of the Six Ancient Kilns of Japan, a pottery town with a thousand

Festival Chubu K

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Korankei: A Valley Planted One Tree at a Time

Korankei, Asuke, Toyota, Aichi

In November, four thousand maples change color in the hills of Mikawa. Korankei is a gorge cut by the Tomoe River as it

Festival Kinki E

例年11月中旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Eikando: The Buddha Who Looks Back

Eikando Zenrinji, 48 Eikandocho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto

Kyoto's autumn began here, or at least its reputation did. Eikando—formally Zenrinji, founded in 853—has been called mo

Festival Kanto H

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Hakone: Where Autumn Walks Down the Mountain

Hakone, Ashigarashimo, Kanagawa

Autumn here comes down the mountain rather than arriving all at once. The color starts at Lake Ashi, high near the pass

Festival Kyushu T

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Takachiho: A Gorge Deep Enough for a God

Takachiho Gorge, Mitai, Takachiho, Nishiusuki, Miyazaki

The gorge is deep, and the depth is the first thing you feel. Aso erupted twice—once about 120,000 years ago and again

Gathering Kinki B

年に数回の本公演

Bunraku at the National Theatre Osaka

Three people to a single puppet. Bunraku, the puppet theatre that grew up in Osaka, works its central illusion through

Gathering Kinki A

ほぼ毎日の定期上演

Awa Puppet Theatre at Jurobei Yashiki

Puppet theatre, but the village kind. The puppet drama of Awa is not the refined Bunraku of the city but something that

Gathering Chubu S

例年初夏〜秋（島内各地）

Sado Firelight Noh

The island has more than thirty Noh stages. Sado was a place of exile, and the exiles brought the arts of the capital w

Gathering Kinki M

例年春（4月〜5月）と秋、節分

Mibu Kyogen

A kyogen with no voices. Mibu Kyogen has been performed at Mibu Temple in Kyoto for some seven hundred years, and its p

Gathering Chugoku I

神社の祭礼・定期公演で上演

Iwami Kagura Regular Performances

They dance all night. Iwami Kagura comes from the western end of Shimane, and it is at once a sacred rite and pure ente

Gathering Kanto S

定期公演・神社祭礼で上演

Sagami Puppet Theatre

Puppet theatre, three to a figure. Sagami Ningyo is the puppet drama of western Kanagawa, around Odawara and Atsugi—the

Gathering Tohoku H

例大祭・定期公演で奉納

Hayachine Kagura

A dance offered to the mountain god. Hayachine Kagura comes from the foot of Mount Hayachine in Iwate, bound up with th

Festival Kanto S

例年7月（七夕の時期）

Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival

The sky disappears. At the Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata, the shopping streets are buried under enormous bamboo decorations

Festival Kanto K

例年8月上旬

Kiryu Yagibushi Festival

They beat on barrels. At the Kiryu Yagibushi Festival in August, the whole town rings with yagibushi—empty barrels stru

Festival Chubu N

例年4月中旬

Nagahama Hikiyama Festival

Children perform kabuki. At the Nagahama Hikiyama Festival in April, child kabuki is staged atop ornate floats—boys bet

Festival Kanto N

例年7月上旬の金〜日

Narita Gion Festival

Floats race up the temple approach. At the Narita Gion Festival in July, ten floats and stalls parade before Naritasan

Festival Chubu S

例年4月上旬

Shingen-ko Festival

The army of the Takeda returns. At the Shingen-ko Festival in April, the streets of Kofu fill with armored warriors rec

Festival Tohoku N

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Naruko Gorge in Autumn: A Canyon of Color and Hot Water

Naruko Gorge, Naruko Onsen, Osaki, Miyagi

Narukokyo is a gorge a hundred meters deep, cut by the Oya River through the mountains of northern Miyagi, and for two w

Festival Chubu T

例年2月中旬〜下旬の金・土・日曜（3日間）

Tokamachi Snow Festival: The Town That Invented Celebrating Snow

Central Tokamachi and sites across the city, Niigata

Tokamachi, in the mountains of Niigata, receives some of the heaviest snowfall of any city in the world—two meters stand

Gathering Kinki K

例年1月下旬〜2月上旬（約10日間）

Kobe Luminarie: Light That Began as Mourning

Meriken Park, Higashi Yuen park, and the former foreign settlement, Kobe

Kobe Luminarie began as an act of mourning. In December 1995, eleven months after the Great Hanshin Earthquake killed mo

Gathering Chubu N

例年10月中旬〜翌5月末

Nabana no Sato: Half a Year of Light Outside Nagoya

Nabana no Sato, Nagashima, Kuwana, Mie

Nabana no Sato is a flower park on the edge of Kuwana, between Nagoya and the sea, and for more than half the year—mid-a

Festival Hokkaido A

例年2月上旬（約1週間）

Asahikawa Winter Festival: The City That Built a World Record in Snow

Asahibashi riverside on the Ishikari River and Kaimono Koen, Asahikawa, Hokkaido

Asahikawa sits in the coldest basin of any major Japanese city—mornings of minus twenty are ordinary here—and every Febr

Festival Hokkaido L

例年1月下旬〜2月中旬

Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival: Ice Grown from a Lake That Never Freezes

Shikotsuko Onsen, Chitose, Hokkaido

Lake Shikotsu is a caldera lake south of Sapporo, among the clearest bodies of water in Japan and so deep that it never

Gathering Hokkaido M

毎年10月上旬

Marimo Festival

There is a lake in eastern Hokkaido where a certain kind of algae grows into perfect green spheres. They are called mari

Gathering Tohoku Z

毎年12月下旬〜2月下旬

Zao Snow Monster Illumination

On the slopes of Mount Zao, in the deep Tohoku winter, the trees turn into monsters. It happens when supercooled water d

Festival Kinki M

例年4月上旬〜中旬

Mochigase Nagashibina (Floating Doll Festival)

Mochigase, Tottori, Tottori

Before hina dolls stood on tiered platforms in family alcoves, they floated. In Mochigase, a former post town on the Sen

Market Kanto S

12月・1月の15日・16日

Setagaya Boroichi Market

Boroichi-dori, Setagaya 1-chome, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

Tokyo's oldest market is not in Tsukiji or Ueno but on a narrow street in residential Setagaya, and it happens on four f

Gathering Kinki T

12月中旬〜下旬

Tottori Sand Dunes Illusion

Tottori Sand Dunes, Fukube-cho, Tottori

Japan does winter illumination with industrial enthusiasm — every city has its tunnel of lights. What Tottori has, alone

Festival Kinki H

2月下旬〜3月3日

Hiketa Hina Doll Festival

Historic Hiketa townscape, Higashikagawa, Kagawa

At the far eastern edge of Kagawa, where Shikoku faces the narrow strait toward Awaji, the old soy-sauce town of Hiketa

Festival Chubu O

3月中旬の土日

Omihachiman Sagicho Festival

Himure Hachimangu, Omihachiman, Shiga

In mid-March, on the weekend nearest the 14th and 15th, the canal town of Omihachiman on Lake Biwa's eastern shore burns

Festival Kanto K

2月下旬〜3月3日

Katsuura Big Hina Festival

Tomisaki Shrine and central Katsuura, Chiba

Every morning during the festival, volunteers in Katsuura carry some 1,800 hina dolls up the sixty stone steps of Tomisa

Festival Kanto I

5月下旬〜6月下旬

Itako Iris Festival

Suigo Itako Ayame Park, Itako, Ibaraki

The bride is real. That is the first thing to understand about Itako's iris festival, held from late May to late June in

Gathering Kanto A

10月中旬〜2月中旬

Ashikaga Flower Park Illumination

Ashikaga Flower Park, Ashikaga, Tochigi

Ashikaga Flower Park is famous for one tree: a 160-year-old wisteria whose canopy, each spring, draws visitors from arou

Festival Chubu T

12月上旬〜中旬

Toyama Shimotsuki Matsuri (Winter Kagura)

Shrines of the Toyama valley, Iida, Nagano

The blessing arrives as a splash of boiling water, flung at you by a masked god with his bare hand. In the Toyama valley

Gathering Chubu H

毎年12月1日〜2月頃

Himi Winter Yellowtail Fair

Himi fishing port and restaurants, Himi, Toyama

Himi, a fishing town on Toyama Bay, has something few food destinations possess: an official declaration of honesty. Eac

Festival Kanto O

毎年大晦日夜〜元旦

Oji Fox Parade

Shozoku Inari to Oji Inari Shrine, Kita-ku, Tokyo

There is an old Edo story that on New Year's Eve, foxes from all over the Kanto plain would gather beneath a great hackb

Festival Chubu H

11月上旬〜1月中旬

Hanamatsuri (Okumikawa Winter Kagura)

Hamlets of Toei, Okumikawa, Aichi

Deep in the mountains of eastern Aichi, the small town of Toei spends its winter awake. From early November to mid-Janua

Gathering Kanto S

例年11月中旬〜4月上旬

Sagamiko Illumillion

1634 Wakayanagi, Midori-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa

An hour west of Tokyo, the lights of the city thin out, the hills darken, and then — abruptly, extravagantly — six milli

Gathering Kyushu H

例年11月上旬〜翌春

Huis Ten Bosch Kingdom of Light

1-1 Huis Ten Bosch-cho, Sasebo, Nagasaki

On the western edge of Kyushu, a Dutch city that never was puts on thirteen million lights and becomes, for half the yea

Festival Kyushu H

例年1月中旬（四王子神社）

Hamayumi-sai - The Matobakai

Shioji Shrine, Nagasu, Tamana District, Kumamoto

It ends in the sea. Nagasu faces the Ariake, a sea of tides and mudflats. In the grounds of Shioji Shrine, men in loinc

Festival Kyushu Y

例年2月の毎週金・土曜（全8夜）

Yamaga Lantern Romance - Hyakka Hyakusai

Buzen-kaido, between the Yachiyoza and Sakura-yu, Yamaga, Kumamoto

The light comes down to the town. In summer, the women of Yamaga carry golden lanterns on their heads and dance. In win

Festival Kyushu A

例年3月（田作祭7日間のうち4日目・申の日）

Aso Shrine Hifuri - The Fire-Swinging Rite

Aso Shrine, Miyaji, Ichinomiya-machi, Aso, Kumamoto

A wedding, welcomed with swinging fire. The Tatsukuri rite at Aso Shrine runs seven days. The god Kunitatsu lodges each

Festival Shikoku K

例年9月〜10月

Kure Hachimangu Autumn Festival

Kure Hachimangu, 6545 Kure, Nakatosa, Kochi

At midnight, it leaves the house. Kure, a fishing town on the Pacific coast of Kochi. On the fourteenth night of the ei

Festival Shikoku O

例年11月下旬の2日間

Otoi Grand Sumo

Otoi Kaikan, 12-10 Nomura, Nomura-cho, Seiyo, Ehime

At the end of November, top-division sumo wrestlers come to a small town in the mountains. Nomura, in Seiyo City, Ehime

Festival Kinki A

例年2月下旬〜4月上旬

Awa Katsuura Big Hina Festival

Doll Culture Hall, 35-1 Tsukinose, Ikuna, Katsuura, Tokushima

Dolls that no longer have a place at home come here from all over the country. Katsuura, a small town in the hills of T

Festival Chugoku S

例年4月中旬〜下旬（約2週間）

Shikoku Konpira Kabuki

Kanamaru-za (Old Konpira Grand Theatre), 1241 Otsu, Kotohira, Kagawa

Once a year, the oldest playhouse in Japan is used for what it was built for. Kotohira, in Kagawa, at the foot of the l

Festival Other E

例年1月中旬〜2月上旬

Echizen Coast Daffodil Festival

Echizen Suisen no Sato Park, 43-25 Ikuracho, Fukui

Try to name a flower that blooms in Japan in January. The list is short, and on this coast it has one entry. The Echize

Gathering Tohoku T

1月中旬〜2月中旬の土日

Tsugaru Ground Blizzard Experience

Meet at Kanagi Station, Tsugaru Railway, Kanagi, Goshogawara, Aomori

Jifubuki is not snow falling. It is snow that has already fallen, lifted off the ground by wind until the air turns whit

Festival Chubu Y

例年9月下旬の土日2日間

Yamanaka Onsen Koikoi Matsuri

Around Yamanakaza, Yamanaka Onsen, Kaga, Ishikawa

Koikoi means come, come. It is not addressed to the gods or to the town but to the guests: the people staying in the inn

Gathering Kyushu S

例年2月

Shujo Onie at Tennenji: The Demons Are the Ancestors

Kunisaki is a peninsula shaped like a wheel — valleys radiating out from a central peak, each one holding a temple older

Gathering Kyushu P

2月上旬〜3月上旬

Porcelain Dolls in Arita: A Festival in a Kiln Town

Arita is a town in a narrow valley in Saga, and it has been making porcelain there for four hundred years. This is not b

Festival Tohoku G

例年10月中旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Geibikei Gorge: The Song Comes on the Way Back

467 Machiura, Nagasaka, Higashiyama-cho, Ichinoseki, Iwate

The song comes only on the way back. Geibikei is two kilometers of limestone in southern Iwate, cut by a small river ca

Festival Tohoku G

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Genbikei Gorge: The Dumplings Arrive by Rope

211 Takinoue, Genbi-cho, Ichinoseki, Iwate

The dumplings arrive by rope. Genbikei is a gorge on the Iwai River in southern Iwate, where the water has drilled roun

Festival Tohoku O

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Oirase Gorge

Okuse, Towada, Aomori

At night, the river is turned down. Oirase is the only stream that leaves Lake Towada, and where it leaves there is a s

Festival Hokkaido H

例年10月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Hoheikyo Gorge

840 Jozankei, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

The valley is quiet. For the last two kilometers, from the gate to the dam, nothing with an engine is allowed through —

Festival Tohoku Z

例年9月下旬〜10月下旬が見頃

Zao Echo Line

Takimidai, Togattaonsen, Zao, Katta, Miyagi

This one has an end date. The Zao Echo Line runs twenty-six kilometers over the Zao mountains, joining Miyagi to Yamaga

Festival Tohoku M

例年10月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Mount Adatara

Shiozawa, Nihonmatsu, Fukushima

There is a sign at the top telling you to look up. The gondola takes six minutes to the eighth station of Mount Adatara

Festival Hokkaido J

例年10月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Jozankei

Jozankei Onsen, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Sapporo is a city of two million people, and this gorge is inside its municipal limits. Jozankei sits about an hour by r

Festival Tohoku H

例年9月下旬〜10月中旬が見頃

Hakkoda

Arakawa, Aomori, Aomori

Hakkoda is not one mountain. It is a range of more than a dozen peaks in the middle of Aomori Prefecture, and the ropewa

Festival Tohoku B

例年9月下旬〜10月中旬が見頃

Bandai-Azuma Skyline

Tsuchiyu Onsen, Fukushima, Fukushima

This is a road you look at rather than a mountain you climb. The Bandai-Azuma Skyline runs about 29 kilometres from Taka

Festival Kanto T

例年10月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Tanigawadake

Yubiso, Minakami, Gunma

The colour starts on the fifth of October, more or less. Minakami's tourism association publishes dates for each of its

Festival Kanto T

例年10月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Teriha-kyo

Fujiwara, Minakami, Gunma

Teriha-kyo means, roughly, the gorge where the leaves shine, and the name was given by the haiku poet Mizuhara Shuoshi,

Festival Chubu T

例年9月中旬〜10月上旬が見頃

Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

Ashikuraji, Tateyama, Toyama

Japan's autumn begins somewhere in the middle of September, and it begins here. Murodo sits at 2,450 metres on the Tatey

Festival Chubu K

例年9月下旬〜10月上旬が見頃

Karasawa

Azumi, Matsumoto, Nagano

Getting there takes about six hours on foot, and there is no other way. From Kamikochi the trail follows the Azusa River

Festival Chubu S

例年10月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Shinhotaka

Okuhida Onsengo, Takayama, Gifu

The interesting thing about Shinhotaka is the vertical distance. The ropeway lifts you from the floor of the Okuhida val

Festival Chugoku I

例年10月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Ishizuchisan

Nishinokawa, Saijo, Ehime

Ishizuchi is the highest mountain in western Japan, at 1,982 metres, and it has been climbed as a religious act for far

Festival Hokkaido G

例年9月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Ginsendai

Ginsendai, Sounkyo, Kamikawa, Hokkaido

Japan's autumn is usually filed under late November, maples, temple gardens. It starts here instead, in mid-September, h

Festival Tohoku H

例年9月下旬〜10月上旬が見頃

Hachimantai

Mikaeri Pass, Matsuo Yoriki, Hachimantai, Iwate

Most mountains give you autumn on the way up. Hachimantai gives it to you on the way down. This is a broad volcanic plat

Festival Kanto I

例年10月中旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Irohazaka

Akechidaira, Hosoo, Nikko, Tochigi

Forty-eight curves, and you are up. Irohazaka is the road linking central Nikko to Lake Chuzenji and the highlands beyon

Festival Kanto L

例年10月中旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Lake Chuzenji

Chugushi, Nikko, Tochigi

The lake was made by an accident. Around twenty thousand years ago Mount Nantai erupted, lava ran down into the valley b

Festival Tohoku A

例年10月中旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Akiu Otaki

Akiu Otaki, Taihaku-ku, Sendai, Miyagi

The peak here runs mid-October to early November, about a month ahead of the maples in central Sendai. The falls are twe

Festival Tohoku D

例年10月中旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Dakigaeri-keikoku

Dakigaeri Gorge, Semboku, Akita

Autumn reaches Dakigaeri between mid-October and early November. Dakigaeri is a narrow gorge on the middle Tamagawa, ten

Festival Tohoku Y

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Yamadera

Hoju-san Risshaku-ji, Yamagata, Yamagata

The stone steps of Yamadera climb through their best colour from late October to early November. Yamadera is the common

Festival Tohoku T

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

To-no-Hetsuri

To-no-Hetsuri, Shimogo, Fukushima

The colour here peaks from late October to early November. To-no-Hetsuri is a river cliff on the Okawa, and hetsuri is a

Festival Kanto F

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Fukiware-no-taki

Fukiware Falls, Numata, Gunma

Late October to early November is the window at Fukiware. Fukiware is not a waterfall in the usual shape. The Katashina

Festival Chubu K

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Kiyotsu-kyo

Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel, Tokamachi, Niigata

The colour season at Kiyotsu runs mid-October to mid-November, with the peak from late October into the first days of No

Festival Chubu K

例年10月下旬〜11月下旬が見頃

Kurobe Gorge

Unazuki Station, Kurobe, Toyama

The season at Kurobe runs long, late October to late November. The reason for the length is vertical. The gorge drops se

Festival Chubu S

例年10月中旬〜11月下旬が見頃

Shosenkyo

Sengataki, Kofu, Yamanashi

Shosenkyo holds its season from mid-October to late November, a month and a half in one valley. Shosenkyo is a gorge wit

Festival Kinki K

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Koyasan

Koyasan, Koya, Wakayama

Autumn on Koyasan runs late October to the first days of November. The mountain sits high enough that its cherry blossom

Festival Chugoku D

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Daisen

Daisenji, Daisen, Tottori

Around Daisenji the peak falls between late October and early November. Daisen is the high mountain of western Honshu's

Festival Tohoku M

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Mogami-kyo

Mogami-kyo, Tozawa, Yamagata

The peak on the Mogami runs late October to early November. Mogami-kyo is the middle stretch of the Mogami river, sixtee

Festival Tohoku S

例年10月下旬〜11月中旬が見頃

Shiobara Valley

Shiobara Valley, Nasushiobara, Tochigi

Shiobara runs on a calendar of ten places, and the valley around Chigo-ga-fuchi sits at late October to mid-November. Th

Festival Kanto N

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Nakatsu-kyo

Nakatsu-kyo, Chichibu, Saitama

Colour comes to Nakatsu-kyo late October to early November. Nakatsu-kyo is a ten-kilometre gorge in the far west of Chic

Festival Chubu T

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Tsukechi-kyo

Tsukechi-kyo, Nakatsugawa, Gifu

At Tsukechi-kyo the colour runs late October to early November, over water that stays blue all year. The gorge lies in t

Festival Chugoku M

例年10月下旬〜11月中旬が見頃

Mitokusan

Sanbutsu-ji, Misasa, Tottori

The peak on Mitokusan runs late October to mid-November. The mountain rises to 899.7 metres on the border between Misasa

Festival Chugoku O

例年10月下旬〜11月中旬が見頃

Oni-no-Shitaburui

Oni-no-Shitaburui, Okuizumo, Shimane

The colour at Oni-no-Shitaburui runs late October to mid-November. Oni-no-Shitaburui is a V-shaped gorge about two kilom

Festival Chugoku O

例年10月下旬〜11月中旬が見頃

Okutsu-kei

Okutsu-kei, Kagamino, Okayama

Okutsu-kei carries its colour from late October to mid-November. The gorge runs about three kilometres near the village

Festival Chugoku C

例年10月下旬〜11月中旬が見頃

Chomon-kyo

Chomon-kyo, Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi

The season at Chomon-kyo runs late October to mid-November. Chomon-kyo is the middle stretch of the Abu river, a gorge s

Festival Kyushu N

例年10月下旬〜11月中旬が見頃

Nita Pass

Nita Pass, Unzen, Nagasaki

At Nita Pass the peak runs late October to mid-November. The pass sits in the middle of the Shimabara peninsula, in the

Festival Kyushu S

例年10月下旬〜11月中旬が見頃

Shin-Yabakei

Shin-Yabakei, Nakatsu, Oita

Shin-Yabakei peaks from late October to mid-November. The valley follows the Yamautsuri, a tributary of the Yamakuni riv

Festival Kanto F

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Fukuroda Falls

Fukuroda Falls, Daigo, Ibaraki

The peak at Fukuroda runs early to mid-November, and if you want a single date, around the tenth of the month. A band an

Festival Kanto L

例年11月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Lake Kawaguchi

Lake Kawaguchi, Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi

The maples at Kawaguchiko run early to late November — a long band for a single place, and it holds because the lake is

Festival Chubu K

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Kaochidani

Kaochidani, Nabari, Mie

Kaochidani colours in the second half of November — mid-month to late, a fortnight behind most of the gorges further nor

Festival Kinki K

例年11月上旬が見頃

Kogen-ji

Kogen-ji, Tamba, Hyogo

Kogen-ji publishes a table of its own seasons, and it is more careful than most. The leaves begin to turn between the mi

Festival Kinki Y

例年11月上旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Yoshinoyama

Yoshinoyama, Yoshino, Nara

Yoshinoyama's band runs from early November into the first days of December, and the location is listed simply as everyw

Festival Shikoku O

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Omogo-kei

Omogo-kei, Kumakogen, Ehime

The peak at Omogo-kei runs early to mid-November. The Ishizuchi Skyline, the road that climbs from the gorge entrance, t

Festival Kinki B

例年11月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Befu-kyo

Befu-kyo, Kami, Kochi

The viewing period at Befu-kyo is posted as early to late November, but the more useful document is a table of the peak

Festival Kyushu K

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Kikuchi Gorge

Kikuchi Gorge, Kikuchi, Kumamoto

The season at Kikuchi Gorge runs mid to late November — later than most of the island, and often the last good week in t

Festival Kyushu G

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Gokanosho

Gokanosho, Yatsushiro, Kumamoto

Colour reaches Gokanosho early to mid-November. The name covers five settlements — Momiki, Nitao, Hagi, Kurako and Shiih

Festival Kyushu K

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Kyusui-kei

Kyusui-kei, Kokonoe, Oita

The peak at Kyusui-kei, in the Tano district of Kokonoe, runs early to mid-November. The gorge is two kilometres of near

Festival Chugoku T

例年10月下旬〜11月中旬が見頃

Tachikuekyo Gorge

Tachikuekyo Gorge, Ottachicho, Izumo, Shimane

At Tachikuekyo the rock turns before your eyes have adjusted to it. The colour comes early for a gorge — late October to

Festival Chugoku J

例年10月下旬〜11月下旬が見頃

Joeiji Sesshu Garden

Joeiji, 2001-1 Miyanoshimo, Yamaguchi

A painter laid out this garden, or so the tradition holds, and in November the garden repays the attribution. The Sesshu

Festival Chubu Y

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Yahiko Park

Yahiko Park, Yahiko, Nishikanbara, Niigata

Yahiko Park begins where the station platform ends — you are inside the grounds within a minute of stepping off the trai

Festival Chubu N

例年11月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Natadera Temple

Natadera, Yu-122 Natamachi, Komatsu, Ishikawa

Natadera is said to date from 717, which puts thirteen centuries behind the rock this temple is built into. The colour r

Festival Chubu S

例年11月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Sumatakyo Gorge

Sumatakyo Gorge, Senzu, Kawanehon, Haibara, Shizuoka

The water at Sumatakyo is green — properly green, a colour photographs get accused of inventing — and in November the tr

Festival Chubu A

例年11月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Akame 48 Waterfalls

Akame 48 Waterfalls, 861-1 Akamecho Nagasaka, Nabari, Mie

Akame is a four-kilometre climb up the Taki river, waterfall after waterfall, with the sound of water never stopping onc

Festival Kinki K

例年11月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Kankakei Gorge

Kankakei, Otsu-168 Kankakedori, Shodoshima, Shozu, Kagawa

A visit to Kankakei is built in two stages: first you cross the sea, then you climb. The gorge cuts through the middle o

Festival Kanto H

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Hananuki Gorge

Hananuki Gorge, Nakatogawa Ono, Takahagi, Ibaraki

At Hananuki you cross a bridge under a ceiling of leaves. The gorge runs from the Hananuki dam past Nabarigafuchi to the

Festival Kanto N

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Nagatoro

Iwadatami, Nagatoro, Chichibu, Saitama

Nagatoro spreads its autumn along a river rather than gathering it in one spot. The peak is mid to late November, though

Festival Kanto M

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Mount Oyama

Oyamadera, 724 Oyama, Isehara, Kanagawa

On a mountain, autumn refuses to hold still: the top and the bottom of Oyama are never on the same schedule, and can loo

Festival Kinki Z

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Zuihoji Park

Zuihoji Park, Arimacho, Kita-ku, Kobe, Hyogo

Arima's autumn keeps a garden of its own. Zuihoji Park sits on the slope above the hot spring town, and being higher it

Festival Kyushu R

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Raizan Sennyoji Daihioin

Raizan Sennyoji Daihioin, 626 Raizan, Itoshima, Fukuoka

People drive out to Itoshima to see one tree. The great maple of Raizan Sennyoji Daihioin usually turns between the firs

Festival Chubu K

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Kenrokuen

Kenrokuen, 1 Kenrokumachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa

By the middle of November, Kenrokuen is running two seasons at once. The maples are at their peak — mid to late month —

Festival Kinki A

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Arashiyama

Togetsukyo, Saga, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto

What turns at Arashiyama is not a garden but a mountainside. The peak comes in mid to late November, and because the sub

Festival Kinki T

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Tofukuji

Tofukuji, 15-778 Honmachi, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto

Tofukuji is where Kyoto goes to look down on autumn instead of up at it. The peak runs mid to late November. Inside the

Festival Chugoku K

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Kanba Falls

Kanba Falls, Kanba, Maniwa, Okayama

Kanba Falls does one thing, and does it vertically. The water drops a hundred and ten metres down a single rock face, tw

Festival Chugoku M

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Momijidani Park

Momijidani Park, Miyajimacho, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima

The autumn at Momijidani begins with a ferry. The park lies on Miyajima, in the valley that runs down from Mount Misen t

Festival Chugoku O

例年11月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Oboke Gorge

Oboke Gorge, Yamashirocho Kamyo, Miyoshi, Tokushima

The rock gets your attention before the leaves do. Oboke sits on the middle reaches of the Yoshino river, with thousand-

Festival Chubu Y

例年11月中旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Yoro Park

Yoro Park, 1298-2 Takabayashi, Yoro, Gifu

Yoro Park is a tunnel you walk through, made of maples. The trees reach over the path from both sides and meet above it,

Festival Kanto S

例年11月中旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Shuzenji

Shuzenji Shizen Koen Momijibayashi, Shuzenji, Izu, Shizuoka

The maple grove at Shuzenji turns as a mass, not as trees. Around a thousand of them stand together in the natural park

Festival Kinki K

例年11月中旬が見頃

Kifune Shrine

Kifune Shrine, 180 Kurama Kibunecho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto

Kibune gives you autumn at a single point: mid-November. The valley is narrow, pressed in by slopes on both sides, and s

Festival Shikoku N

例年11月中旬が見頃

Nakatsu Gorge

Nakatsu Gorge, Nanokawa, Niyodogawa, Agawa, Kochi

Nakatsu gorge is known for the colour of its water, which is a strange thing to lead with in autumn, and exactly the rig

Festival Kinki T

例年11月中旬が見頃

Todoroki Falls

Todoroki Falls, Hirai, Kaiyo, Kaifu, Tokushima

Todoroki is a valley you count your way up. The recommended month is November, the middle of it. The main fall drops fif

Festival Kinki M

例年11月中旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Minoo Park

Minoo Falls, 1-18 Minoo Koen, Minoh, Osaka

Minoo is the gorge that commutes. From central Osaka it is about half an hour by train, which is an unreasonably short d

Festival Kinki T

例年11月中旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Tanzan Shrine

Tanzan Shrine, 319 Tonomine, Sakurai, Nara

At Tanzan Shrine one red stands inside another. The centre of the site is a thirteen-storey pagoda — built in wood, thir

Festival Chubu M

例年11月中旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Muroji Temple

Muroji, 78 Muro, Uda, Nara

The cold does the work at Muroji. The temple stands deep in the mountains of eastern Uda, where mornings and evenings bi

Festival Kyushu M

例年11月中旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Mifuneyama Rakuen

Mifuneyama Rakuen, 4100 Takeocho, Takeo, Saga

Mifuneyama Rakuen has something most gardens lack: a wall. The garden spreads across the foot of a sheer rock mountain,

Festival Kanto Y

例年11月下旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Yoro Valley

Awamata Falls, Awamata, Otaki, Isumi, Chiba

December colour is rare in the Kanto region, and Yoro Valley is where it happens. The Boso peninsula holds its warmth la

Festival Kyushu A

例年11月下旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Akizuki

Akizuki Castle Ruins, Akizuki Notori, Asakura, Fukuoka

There are about twenty maples at Akizuki's Kuromon gate. Twenty — few enough to count from where you stand. And yet the

Festival Chubu K

例年10月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Kamikochi

Kappa Bridge, Kamikochi, Azumi, Matsumoto, Nagano

You cannot drive into Kamikochi. The valley sits at about 1,500 metres in the Northern Alps, and private cars have been

Festival Chugoku T

例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃

Taishakukyo Gorge

Shinryuko, Taishakukyo Gorge, Shobara and Jinsekikogen, Hiroshima

There are two kinds of bridge in this gorge, and the difference between them is the whole visit. The first was cut by wa

Festival Tohoku Z

例年10月上旬が見頃

Zao Chuo Kogen

Dokkonuma, Zao Chuo Kogen, Zao Onsen, Yamagata

The colour comes down this mountain in three steps, and each one has its own week. The summit ridge near Jizodake turns

Festival Kanto M

例年11月中旬〜12月上旬が見頃

Mount Takao

Mount Takao, Takaomachi, Hachioji, Tokyo

The walk begins about five minutes from the train. Takao is 599 metres high, an hour west of central Tokyo by train, and

Festival Chubu T

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Tenryukyo Gorge

Tenryukyo Gorge, Kawaji, Iida, Nagano

This gorge has been formally declared a good place to write poems in. In the autumn of 2009 the local committee issued t

Festival Chubu E

例年11月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Eiheiji Temple

Daihonzan Eiheiji, 5-15 Shihi, Eiheiji, Yoshida District, Fukui

You come for the maples and spend most of the visit indoors. Eiheiji climbs the side of a wooded mountain in Fukui, and

Festival Kyushu K

例年11月中旬が見頃

Kirishima Onsenkyo

Maruo, Kirishima Onsenkyo, Makizonocho Takachiho, Kirishima, Kagoshima

The steam here is warm enough to hold a season back. Kirishima Onsenkyo is a collective name for nine hot springs scatte

Festival Tohoku T

例年4月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Tsuruoka Park Cherry Blossoms

Tsuruoka Park, Babacho, Tsuruoka, Yamagata

There is no castle here any more. Tsurugaoka Castle was held by the Sakai family as lords of the Shonai domain for somet

Festival Tohoku E

例年4月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Eboshiyama Park Cherry Blossoms

Eboshiyama Park, 1415 Akayu, Nanyo, Yamagata

You climb to get to these trees. Eboshiyama Park sits on the hill directly above Akayu, a hot spring town in southern Ya

Festival Tohoku T

例年4月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Tsurugajo Castle Cherry Blossoms

Tsurugajo Park, 1-1 Otemachi, Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima

The roof of the keep is red. Tsurugajo is the only castle in the country with a keep tiled in red. Under that roof, abou

Festival Tohoku K

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Kasumigajo Park Cherry Blossoms

Kasumigajo Park, 3-chome Kakunai, Nihonmatsu, Fukushima

The castle has a second name, Kasumigajo, which means the castle of haze. Nihonmatsu Castle was rebuilt as a modern fort

Festival Kanto K

例年3月下旬〜4月中旬が見頃

Kamine Park and Heiwa-dori Cherry Blossoms

Kamine Park, 5-2-22 Miyatacho, Hitachi, Ibaraki

Hitachi's cherry season climbs. It starts at the station and finishes on the hill above the town, and the gap between th

Festival Kanto S

例年4月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Shizumine Park Double Cherries

Shizumine Furusato Park, 1720-1 Shizu, Naka, Ibaraki

The cherries here are late on purpose. Shizumine Furusato Park covers twelve hectares in central Ibaraki and holds two t

Festival Tohoku M

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Miharu Takizakura Weeping Cherry

296 Sakurakubo, Taki, Miharu, Tamura, Fukushima

It is one tree. Takizakura stands by itself in a hollow of farmland outside Miharu, a weeping cherry of the Edo-higan li

Festival Kanto A

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Akagi Nanmen Senbonzakura

2511-2 Naegashimamachi, Maebashi, Gunma

This is a road rather than a park. Around fourteen hundred Somei-yoshino line three and a half kilometres of it, running

Festival Kanto S

例年4月上旬・中旬と11月中旬〜12月中旬が見頃

Sakurayama Park Winter and Spring Cherries

2166-1 Sanbagawa, Fujioka, Gunma

The cherry trees on this hill flower twice a year. Sakurayama Park, in the hills of southwest Gunma, holds about three t

Festival Kanto K

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Kumagaya Sakurazutsumi Cherry Bank

Kumagaya Sakurazutsumi, 2-chome Kawaramachi, Kumagaya, Saitama

The trees stand in a single line along the top of an embankment. Kumagaya Sakurazutsumi is two kilometres of the Arakawa

Festival Kanto N

例年4月上旬〜下旬が見頃

Nagatoro Cherry Blossoms

Kitazakura-dori, 1753-1 Nagatoro, Nagatoro, Chichibu, Saitama

Nagatoro flowers twice, about ten days apart, in two places that have almost nothing in common. The first is Kitazakura

Festival Kanto S

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Shimizu Park Cherry Blossoms

Shimizu Park, 906 Shimizu, Noda, Chiba

The cherry trees at Shimizu Park start before the park does. They line the approach road as well as the grounds, so the

Festival Kanto I

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Izumi Shizen Park Cherry Blossoms

Izumi Shizen Park, 108 Noromachi, Wakaba, Chiba, Chiba

Some of these trees were given away. Izumi Shizen Park, in the hills east of Chiba city, has a hanami ground of eight th

Festival Kanto M

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Mobara Park Cherry Blossoms

Mobara Park, 1325-1 Takashi, Mobara, Chiba

There is a vermilion hall standing in the middle of the lake. Mobara Park holds more than two thousand cherry trees, mos

Festival Tohoku T

例年4月下旬〜5月上旬が見頃

Takamatsu Park Cherry Blossoms

Takamatsu Park, 1-26-1 Takamatsu, Morioka, Iwate

The pond is named after pine trees. Takamatsu-no-ike was a hawking ground of the Nanbu lords, and the city's account say

Festival Tohoku S

例年4月下旬が見頃

Senshu Park Cherry Blossoms

Senshu Park, 1 Senshu Koen, Akita, Akita

The cherry trees here run a few days behind the rest of the city, and the city says so itself. Senshu Park occupies the

Festival Tohoku M

例年4月下旬が見頃

Mato Park Cherry Blossoms

Mato Park, Mato, Masuda, Yokote, Akita

The hill came first. Mato Park sits in Masuda, in the south of Yokote, with Mount Mato standing behind it, and the dark

Festival Kanto N

例年4月上旬が見頃

Nikko Kaido Cherry Avenue

Nikko Kaido Cherry Avenue, Kamitosakecho, Utsunomiya, Tochigi

The cherry trees along the Nikko Kaido run for about sixteen kilometres. They line both sides of the old highway between

Festival Kanto M

例年4月上旬が見頃

Mount Ohira Cherry Blossoms

Ohirasan Prefectural Natural Park, Hiraicho, Tochigi, Tochigi

The road up the mountain becomes a tunnel. Tochigi prefecture puts four thousand cherry trees along the scenic drive on

Festival Kanto O

例年4月上旬が見頃

Omiya Park Cherry Blossoms

Omiya Park, 4-chome Takahanacho, Omiya, Saitama, Saitama

The cherry trees in this park need work to stay. Saitama prefecture's own page explains why: Somei-yoshino is propagated

Festival Kanto S

例年2月〜4月中旬が見頃

Shinjuku Gyoen Cherry Blossoms

Shinjuku Gyoen, 11 Naitocho, Shinjuku, Tokyo

The cherry trees here start in February. Shinjuku Gyoen holds about nine hundred of them, of some seventy varieties, acc

Festival Kanto U

例年2月〜4月下旬が見頃

Ueno Park Cherry Blossoms

Ueno Park, Uenokoen, Taito, Tokyo

The cherry season at Ueno turns over across more than two months, and the city publishes it variety by variety. Kanzakur

Festival Kanto S

例年3月下旬が見頃

Sumida Park Cherry Blossoms

Sumida Park, 1-chome Mukojima, Sumida, Tokyo

These trees were planted on a shogun's orders, or so the story goes. The tourism association for Sumida ward credits Tok

Festival Kanto K

例年3月下旬が見頃

Koganei Park Cherry Blossoms

Koganei Park, 3-chome Sakuracho, Koganei, Tokyo

Eighty-one hectares. Koganei Park sits in the western half of Tokyo and covers about 810,000 square metres, which is lar

Festival Kanto I

例年3月下旬が見頃

Inokashira Park Cherry Blossoms

Inokashira Park, 1-18-31 Gotenyama, Musashino, Tokyo

Hanami here is not done by looking up. Around Inokashira pond there are some two hundred Somei-yoshino and yama-zakura,

Festival Kanto M

例年4月上旬が見頃

Mitsuike Park Cherry Blossoms

Mitsuike Park, 1-1 Mitsuike Koen, Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa

There are three ponds, and the park is named after them. Kanagawa prefecture's account says they were dug as irrigation

Festival Kanto K

例年4月上旬が見頃

Kinugasayama Park Cherry Blossoms

Kinugasayama Park, 4-chome Obaru, Yokosuka, Kanagawa

These trees were planted as a memorial. Yokosuka city's account is specific: in 1907 a monument was raised to the men of

Festival Kanto O

例年3月下旬〜4月中旬が見頃

Odawara Castle Cherry Blossoms

Odawara Castle Park, Jonai, Odawara, Kanagawa

You can get the keep and the blossom in the same photograph, which is the reason most people come. The cherry trees at O

Festival Chubu O

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Ohkouzu Diversion Cherry Avenue

Ohkouzu Diversion, Gosengoku, Tsubame, Niigata

These trees were planted to commemorate an engineering project. The Ohkouzu diversion is an artificial channel, cut to s

Festival Other M

例年4月中旬が見頃

Muramatsu Park Cherry Blossoms

Muramatsu Park, 2631-1 Atagoko, Gosen, Niigata

This park was also built to remember the dead. Muramatsu Park was laid out in October 1906 as a memorial to the Russo-Ja

Festival Chubu T

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Takadajo Park Cherry Blossoms

Takadajo Park, 44-1 Honjocho, Joetsu, Niigata

This one is better known after dark. Takadajo Park holds about four thousand cherry trees, and standing among them is th

Festival Chubu M

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Matsukawa Riverside Cherry Blossoms

Matsukawa riverside, 1 Honmaru, Toyama, Toyama

This river used to be part of a much bigger one. Toyama prefecture's account is that the Matsukawa is what was left of t

Festival Chubu T

例年3月下旬〜4月中旬が見頃

Takaoka Kojo Park Cherry Blossoms

Takaoka Kojo Park, 1-1 Kojo, Takaoka, Toyama

The moats survived. Takaoka castle lost its buildings long ago, but the water moats and the earth ramparts are still the

Festival Chubu K

例年4月上旬が見頃

Kenrokuen Cherry Blossoms

Kenrokuen, 1 Kenrokumachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa

For about ten days a year this garden is free. Kenrokuen is designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and normally cha

Festival Chubu A

例年4月上旬が見頃

Asuwa River and Asuwayama Cherry Blossoms

Asuwa riverside, Keya to Akarimachi, Fukui, Fukui

The river and the hill run into each other. Along the embankment of the Asuwa there are about six hundred cherry trees o

Festival Chubu M

例年4月上旬が見頃

Maruoka Castle Cherry Blossoms

Kasumigajo Park, 1-59 Kasumicho, Maruoka, Sakai, Fukui

The castle's other name became the park's name. Maruoka castle is also called Kasumigajo, the castle of haze, and the gr

Festival Chubu O

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Oboshi Park Cherry Blossoms

Oboshi Park, 2175 Kajikazawa, Fujikawa, Minamikoma, Yamanashi

There is more to see from this park than in it. Oboshi Park holds about two thousand cherry trees, Somei-yoshino and sat

Festival Chubu G

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Garyu Park Cherry Blossoms

Garyu Park, 2-4-8 Garyu, Suzaka, Nagano

Six hundred cherry trees, and a quarter of them are round one pond. Nagano's tourism site gives about six hundred in Gar

Festival Chubu K

例年4月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Kaikoen Cherry Blossoms

Kaikoen, 1-6-16 Ote, Komoro, Nagano

You look down on these trees from a wall. Kaikoen, the park inside the ruins of Komoro castle, has Somei-yoshino and hig

Festival Chubu H

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Hyakujuro Cherry Avenue

Shinsakaigawa embankment, Naka Monzencho, Kakamigahara, Gifu

These trees are named after a person. The Hyakujuro cherries take their name from Ichikawa Hyakujuro, a kabuki actor bor

Festival Chubu N

例年4月上旬が見頃

Neodani Usuzumi-zakura

Usuzumi Park, 995 Kamidan, Neo Itasho, Motosu, Gifu

This tree changes colour as it dies back. The name Usuzumi means pale ink, and Gifu prefecture's account explains it: th

Festival Chubu K

例年3月中旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Kamagatani Cherry Blossoms

Kamagatani, Fujishiro, Ikeda, Ibi, Gifu

The name describes what it looks like from far off. Kamagatani is a valley on the slope of Mount Ikeda planted with abou

Festival Kanto S

例年2月〜4月が見頃

Sakura no Sato Cherry Blossoms

Sakura no Sato, 1317-4 Futo, Ito, Shizuoka

Cherry blossom is visible here from September to May. That is the claim on Ito's own tourism site, which describes Sakur

Festival Chubu Y

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Yamazakigawa Cherry Blossoms

Yamazakigawa, 3 Tanabedori, Mizuho, Nagoya, Aichi

The trees face each other across the water. Between Ishikawa bridge and Ochiai bridge, a stretch of about two and a half

Festival Chubu T

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Tsuruma Park Cherry Blossoms

Tsuruma Park, 1-1-1 Tsurumai, Showa, Nagoya, Aichi

One minute from the station gate to the trees. Tsuruma Park holds about seven hundred and fifty cherry trees, mostly Som

Festival Chubu O

例年4月上旬が見頃

Okazaki Park Cherry Blossoms

Okazaki Park, 561-1 Koseicho, Okazaki, Aichi

The cherry trees are not confined to the park. The Okazaki tourism association counts about eight hundred Somei-yoshino

Festival Chubu G

例年4月上旬が見頃

Gojogawa Cherry Blossoms

Gojo river, Nakahoncho and beyond, Iwakura, Aichi

Carp streamers are washed in this river, under the cherry trees. The Gojo river runs about seven and a half kilometres t

Festival Chubu M

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Mitake Cherry Blossoms

Mitake, Misugicho, Tsu, Mie

The approach to a temple is the avenue. Mitake's cherry trees run for a kilometre and a half along the path from the old

Festival Other M

例年4月上旬が見頃

Miyagawa Embankment Cherry Blossoms

Miyagawa embankment, Nakajima, Ise, Mie

This is the river you cross before Ise. The Miyagawa embankment carries about seven hundred cherry trees over a kilometr

Festival Chubu H

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Hokoen Cherry Blossoms

Hokoen, 1325 Koencho, Nagahama, Shiga

Six hundred cherry trees stand where Hideyoshi put a castle. Hokoen occupies the site of Nagahama castle, held by Toyoto

Festival Chubu K

例年4月上旬が見頃

Kaizu-Osaki Cherry Blossoms

Kaizu-Osaki, Kaizu, Makinocho, Takashima, Shiga

Four kilometres of cherry trees along the edge of a lake, on a road that goes nowhere in particular. The planting at Kai

Festival Kinki A

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Arashiyama Cherry Blossoms

Arashiyama, 40 Sagatenryuji Susukinobabacho, Ukyo, Kyoto

The blossom here is on the mountain, along the river, and around the bridge. Kyoto prefecture's tourism federation descr

Festival Kinki O

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Omuro Cherries at Ninnaji

Ninnaji, 33 Omuro Ouchi, Ukyo, Kyoto

You do not look up at these. The Omuro cherries stand about two metres high, branching from the base and spreading close

Festival Kinki D

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Daigoji Cherry Blossoms

Daigoji, 22 Daigo Higashiojicho, Fushimi, Kyoto

A single flower-viewing party from over four centuries ago is still the name of this place. The Kyoto prefectural touris

Festival Kinki K

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Kasagiyama Cherry Blossoms

Kasagiyama Prefectural Natural Park, Kasagi, Soraku, Kyoto

The mountain with the cherry trees on it is itself a monument. Kyoto prefecture records Mount Kasagi as a National Histo

Festival Kinki T

例年4月上旬〜中旬が見頃

The Mint's Cherry Passage

Japan Mint, 1-1-79 Tenma, Kita, Osaka

The path is open for one week. Inside the grounds of the Japan Mint there is a five-hundred-and-sixty-metre walk along t

Festival Kinki O

例年4月上旬が見頃

Osaka Castle Park Cherry Blossoms

Osaka Castle Park, Osakajo, Chuo, Osaka

Three thousand trees across a hundred and five hectares. Osaka Castle Park covers 105.6 hectares in the middle of the ci

Festival Kinki E

例年4月上旬が見頃

Expo Park Cherry Blossoms

Expo '70 Commemorative Park, 1-1 Senri Banpakukoen, Suita, Osaka

The places where the cherry trees grow all have names. The Expo '70 park lists nine of them: Higashi-oji, the Japanese g

Festival Kinki H

例年4月上旬が見頃

Himeji Castle Cherry Blossoms

Himeji Castle, 68 Honmachi, Himeji, Hyogo

White flowers in front of a white castle. Himeji city gives about a thousand cherry trees in the grounds, Somei-yoshino

Festival Kinki A

例年4月上旬が見頃

Akashi Park Cherry Blossoms

Akashi Park, 1-27 Akashi Koen, Akashi, Hyogo

Two turrets and no keep. Akashi Park covers about 54.8 hectares, and standing on the earthworks are the Tatsumi and Hits

Festival Kinki S

例年4月上旬が見頃

Shukugawa Riverside Cherry Blossoms

Shukugawa riverside green, Gomenmachi and beyond, Nishinomiya, Hyogo

The city has counted them by variety. There are about thirteen hundred cherry trees along the Shukugawa, and Nishinomiya

Festival Kinki N

例年3月下旬〜4月下旬が見頃

Nara Park Cherry Blossoms

Nara Park, Kasuganocho, Nara, Nara

The cherry season here lasts about a month. The Nara city tourism association gives it as late March through to late Apr

Festival Kinki K

例年4月上旬が見頃

Koriyama Castle Cherry Blossoms

Koriyama Castle ruins, 248-4 Kitakoriyamacho, Yamatokoriyama, Nara

The trees are planted around the moats. Yamatokoriyama city describes about six hundred cherries, mostly Somei-yoshino,

Festival Kinki K

例年4月上旬が見頃

Kimiidera Cherry Blossoms

Kimiidera, 1201 Kimiidera, Wakayama, Wakayama

Wakayama's cherry blossom is declared open from this temple. In front of the main hall at Kimiidera stands the specimen

Festival Kinki N

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Negoroji Cherry Blossoms

Negoroji, 2286 Negoro, Iwade, Wakayama

Seven thousand cherry trees in the grounds of one temple. That is the figure Wakayama's tourism authority gives for Nego

Festival Kinki S

例年4月上旬が見頃

Shichikawa Dam Cherry Blossoms

Shichikawa Dam, Sada, Kozagawa, Higashimuro, Wakayama

The dam came first, and the trees were planted around the edge of what it made. The reservoir behind the Shichikawa dam

Festival Kinki H

例年4月上旬が見頃

Hisamatsu Park Cherry Blossoms

Hisamatsu Park, Higashimachi, Tottori, Tottori

Tottori's flowering is declared from a park entrance. The specimen tree that the Tottori meteorological observatory uses

Festival Chugoku U

例年4月上旬が見頃

Utsubuki Park Cherry Blossoms

Utsubuki Park, 722 Aoicho, Kurayoshi, Tottori

This park was built to commemorate a royal visit. Kurayoshi city records that Utsubuki Park was laid out in 1904 to mark

Festival Chugoku M

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Matsue Castle Cherry Blossoms

Matsue Jozan Park, Tonomachi, Matsue, Shimane

Only a hundred and ninety trees. Shimane prefecture gives the count for Matsue Jozan Park as about a hundred and ninety

Festival Chugoku H

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Hiikawa Embankment Cherry Avenue

Hiikawa embankment, Kisuki, Unnan, Shimane

The Hiikawa is the river of the Yamata-no-Orochi story. Along its embankment at Kisuki there are about eight hundred Som

Festival Kinki T

例年4月上旬が見頃

Tsuyama Castle Cherry Blossoms

Tsuyama Castle, 135 Sange, Tsuyama, Okayama

The stonework survives in terraces, and the cherry trees are on top of it. Tsuyama city gives several thousand cherry tr

Festival Chugoku S

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Senkoji Park Cherry Blossoms

Senkoji Park, 19 Nishitsuchidocho, Onomichi, Hiroshima

Fifteen hundred cherry trees on a slope above the sea. Senkoji Park climbs the side of Senkojiyama at Onomichi, and the

Festival Chugoku S

例年4月が見頃

Shobara Ueno Park Cherry Blossoms

Ueno Park, 1-chome Higashihonmachi, Shobara, Hiroshima

The circuit round the pond is two kilometres. That is about half an hour at a walking pace. Shobara's tourism site descr

Festival Chugoku T

例年3月下旬〜4月中旬が見頃

Tokiwa Park Cherry Blossoms

Tokiwa Park, 254 Okiube, Ube, Yamaguchi

There is a variety here of which the park has exactly six. Tokiwa Park gives its cherry total as about 3,500 and then br

Festival Chugoku K

例年4月上旬が見頃

Kikko Park and Kintaikyo Cherry Blossoms

Kikko Park, Yokoyama, Iwakuni, Yamaguchi

The trees stand differently on the two sides of the bridge. The Kintaikyo is a wooden arched bridge over the Nishiki riv

Festival Kinki S

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Seibu Park Cherry Blossoms

Seibu Park, Kamonacho, Tokushima, Tokushima

Five hundred trees on the side of a mountain, above a city of a quarter of a million. Seibu Park sits partway up Bizan,

Festival Chugoku K

例年4月上旬が見頃

Kotohiki Park Cherry Blossoms

Kotohiki Park, Ariakecho, Kanonji, Kagawa

There is an enormous drawing in the sand here. The Zenigata at Kotohiki Park measures 122 metres east to west, 90 north

Festival Chugoku M

例年4月上旬が見頃

Matsuyama Castle Cherry Blossoms

Matsuyama Castle, Marunouchi, Matsuyama, Ehime

Two hundred trees, with the early and the late ones deliberately mixed in. Most of the cherries at Matsuyama Castle are

Festival Shikoku K

例年3月下旬〜4月中旬が見頃

Kagamino Park Cherry Blossoms

Kagamino Park, Miyanokuchi, Tosayamada, Kami, Kochi

The park's cherry trees run on into a university. Kochi prefecture describes Kagamino Park as holding many kinds of cher

Festival Shikoku M

例年3月下旬が見頃

Makino Park Cherry Blossoms

Makino Park, 2458 Ko, Sakawa, Takaoka District, Kochi

For most cherry sites the beginning is vague. Here it is on the record. In 1902 the botanist Tomitaro Makino, who was bo

Festival Kyushu N

例年3月下旬が見頃

Nishi Park Cherry Blossoms

Nishi Park, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka

Fukuoka prefecture has exactly one entry among the hundred cherry sites, and this is it. Nishi Park stands on a rise nea

Festival Kyushu O

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Ogi Park Cherry Blossoms

Ogi Park, 185 Ogimachi, Ogi, Saga

This park was a domain garden before it was a park. Ogi city writes that it was laid out by Motoshige Nabeshima, first l

Festival Kyushu O

例年3月下旬〜4月中旬が見頃

Omura Park Cherry Blossoms

Omura Park, 1-43 Kushima, Omura, Nagasaki

The cherry trees here are named after the place. Omura Park holds about 2,000 trees, and roughly 300 of them are Omura-z

Festival Kyushu K

例年4月上旬が見頃

Kumamoto Castle Cherry Blossoms

Kumamoto Castle, 1-1 Honmaru, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto

New cherry trees are still being found inside this castle. Kumamoto city writes that a cherry was found on the grounds w

Festival Kyushu Y

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Yunoko Cherry Line Blossoms

Yunoko Cherry Line, Hama, Minamata, Kumamoto

This entry on the list of a hundred is not a park but a road. Kumamoto prefecture describes a driving route with cherry

Festival Kyushu I

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Ichifusa Dam Lake Cherry Blossoms

Ichifusa Dam Lake, Mizukami, Kuma District, Kumamoto

The cherry trees here go all the way round a lake. Kumamoto prefecture writes that about 10,000 of them were planted to

Festival Kyushu O

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Oka Castle Park Cherry Blossoms

Oka Castle ruins, Taketa, Oita

This castle site is better known for a piece of music than for its trees. Oita prefecture writes that the ruins of Oka c

Festival Kyushu M

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Mochio Park Cherry Blossoms

Mochio Park, 6633 Yokoichicho, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki

The entry on the list is not a park but a prefectural natural park, taking in Mochio and Sekinoo together. Mochio Park h

Festival Kyushu T

例年3月下旬〜4月上旬が見頃

Tadamoto Park Cherry Blossoms

Tadamoto Park, 2484-193 Okuchi Harada, Isa, Kagoshima

This park carries a person's name. Isa city writes that Tadamoto shrine, dedicated to the Shimazu retainer Niiro Musashi

Festival Okinawa N

例年2月上旬が見頃

Nago Castle Park Cherry Blossoms

Nago Castle Park, 5511 Nago, Nago, Okinawa

This one flowers in winter. In the Japan Meteorological Agency's 1991 to 2020 averages, full bloom at Naha falls on 4 Fe

Festival Kanto F

例年4月中旬が見頃

Fuji Reien Cherry Blossoms

Fuji Reien, 888-2 Oomika, Oyama, Sunto District, Shizuoka

Eight thousand cherry trees stand over a cemetery. Fuji Reien writes that its grounds hold about 1,000 Somei-yoshino and

Festival Hokkaido M

例年4月中旬〜5月下旬が見頃

Matsumae Park Cherry Blossoms

Matsumae Park, Matsushiro, Matsumae, Hokkaido

Cherry blossom lasts about a week in most places. In Matsumae it lasts a month, because the town spent a long time colle

Festival Hokkaido N

例年5月上旬〜中旬が見頃

Nijukken-doro Cherry Avenue

Nijukken-doro Cherry Avenue, Shizunai Tawara to Shizunai Misono, Shinhidaka, Hokkaido

This road was not built to be looked at. It was built to be driven along, by members of the imperial family inspecting a

Festival Tohoku A

例年4月下旬〜5月上旬が見頃

Ashino Park Cherry Blossoms

Ashino Park, Ashino, Kanagi, Goshogawara, Aomori

There is a railway station inside the park. Ashino Park covers about eighty hectares around a lake in the north of Aomor

Festival Tohoku T

例年4月中旬〜下旬が見頃

Tenshochi Cherry Blossoms

Tenshochi Park, 10-chiwari Tachibana, Kitakami, Iwate

The cherry trees at Tenshochi run for two kilometres along the bank of the Kitakami River, starting at the foot of the S

Gathering Tohoku N

毎年8月16日

Naruse Lantern Floating and Memorial Fireworks

Naruse River left bank, upstream of Naruse Ohashi Bridge, Higashimatsushima, Miyagi

On the evening of August 16th, the last day of Obon, people gather on the riverbank of the Naruse, just upstream of the