October 2026
4 events
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
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
December 2026
1 events
January 2027
3 events
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
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,
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
3 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
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,
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
March 2027
2 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
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
Year-round
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,