Japanese festivals: what a matsuri is, the biggest festivals month by month, what to wear and eat, how to join in, and dates to August 2027

What Japanese festivals are

The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) starts its guide to local festivals simply: "Matsuri are Japanese festivals and are a way for the local community to get together and celebrate." Most have a reason behind them. JNTO goes on: "Nearly all matsuri have some connection to Buddhism, Shinto, the four seasons or important historical events, though a few of them rely entirely on the beauty of fireworks."

The word itself, JNTO explains in a feature on festival history, comes from a verb meaning to enshrine. In the past a festival was a way to thank the gods for good fortune, or to ask them for a good harvest or for protection from natural disasters. Festivals differ from one region to the next, but the same feature says "every matsuri is a community-wide event and an opportunity to proudly display and preserve local traditions". It adds what that means for a traveller: "Today, Japan's festivals enable visitors to witness ancient rituals, performances and lively participation by local residents."

Words you will hear

A few Japanese words come up again and again, on posters, in timetables and in the shouts of the crowd.

Types of Japanese festivals

Japan's festivals, in JNTO's words, "range from the small and peaceful to the large and fiery". It describes the traditional ones like this: "Traditional Japanese festivals are frequently celebrated around shrines and temples, with participants dressed in colorful garb and often hoisting heavy portable shrines on their shoulders." Most fit one or more of six broad kinds.

Harvest festivals

A large share of Japan's festivals are, at heart, harvest festivals. Some pray for a good crop and others give thanks for it. JNTO's guide to October notes that many of that month's festivals began as simple harvest celebrations and grew into the parades and processions seen today.

The biggest Japanese festivals

There is no official ranking, but the same names keep coming up. The Kyoto City Tourism Association puts it this way: "Kyoto's Gion Matsuri Festival is one of the three greatest festivals in Japan. The other two are Tokyo's Kanda Matsuri and Osaka's Tenjin Matsuri." In the north, JNTO's guide to August points to the three major summer festivals of Tohoku, all in early August. Add the Awa Odori dance in Tokushima and the Sapporo Snow Festival, and you have the festivals most visitors plan a trip around.

Gion Matsuri, Kyoto: all of July

The Gion Matsuri is the summer festival of Yasaka Jinja shrine, and it fills the whole of July, from the 1st to the 31st. The Kyoto City Tourism Association says: "Among these the Gion Matsuri may be said to be the largest and most extravagant festival." Its high points are the two float processions: 23 floats on 17 July from 9 a.m., and 11 on 24 July from 9:30 a.m. On the evenings before each, the Yoiyama, the streets turn into a party, and houses along the route show off their folding screens and heirlooms, which is why it is also called the Byobu Matsuri, the Screen Festival.

The festival goes back to 869, when the whole country was struck by a plague and the emperor sent a messenger to Yasaka Jinja to pray for it to end. The shrine set up 66 halberds, one for each province, as an offering to the god Gozu Tenno, and from 970 the ritual became a yearly event. If you want to go, JNTO's advice is to book a room months ahead.

Tenjin Matsuri, Osaka: 24 and 25 July

Osaka's great summer festival began in 951 at Osaka Tenmangu shrine and honours Sugawara Michizane, the deity of scholarship and learning. JNTO says "The Tenjin Matsuri is considered one of Japan's top three festivals". The opening rituals are held at the shrine on 24 July. On the night of 25 July a parade of 100 boats moves along the Okawa River, and the evening ends with fireworks that last an hour and a half. The nearest stations are JR Osaka-Tenmangu and Minami-Morimachi.

Kanda Matsuri and Sanja Matsuri, Tokyo: May

Tokyo's two big shrine festivals both fall in May. The Kanda Matsuri of Kanda Myojin shrine takes about a week, and its liveliest days are the weekend just before 15 May: parades on the Saturday and the portable shrine procession on the Sunday, with routes that reach Otemachi, Marunouchi and Nihonbashi. More than 200 mikoshi are carried into the shrine. JNTO notes that "this major event is only celebrated every other year". The shrine's own site says it was held in 2025 and takes place once every two years, so the next one is in May 2027. In the years between, Hie-jinja shrine holds its Sanno Matsuri in June.

The Sanja Matsuri of Asakusa Shrine is held every year on the third full weekend of May. JNTO calls it "one of Tokyo's top three festivals", and its guide to May says it draws over a million people a year. There is a parade, the Daigyoretsu, on the Friday afternoon, almost 100 neighbourhood mikoshi on the Saturday, and the shrine's own large mikoshi on the Sunday.

Tohoku's summer festivals: early August

Tohoku, the north of Honshu, has three big festivals within the first eight days of August, and JNTO suggests touring the region in early August to see them.

Each has its own story. The Nebuta, says the festival's site, may have begun as a form of the Tanabata festival, though no one can be sure, and once paper, bamboo and candles were easy to come by it turned into lanterns and then into the nebuta floats. The Kanto is a festival of prayers for a good harvest about 270 years old, and it is a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Tanabata comes from an old Chinese legend of two lovers, the stars Altair and Vega, called Orihime and Hikoboshi in Japan, who are kept apart by the Milky Way and can meet only one night a year. It is usually held on the seventh day of the seventh month, and Sendai keeps it a month later than most of Japan, in August. Its official site says more than 2 million people visit each year.

Awa Odori, Tokushima: mid-August

The Awa Odori is a dance, not a parade of floats. It is danced around Obon, when the spirits of ancestors are honoured, and JNTO says it goes back about 400 years. The festival's official site gives the dates as 11 to 15 August every year, five days in all, with more than a million visitors filling Tokushima City; JNTO gives 12 to 15 August. The official site lists both paid stages and free ones, and parts of the festival are open to anyone who wants to dance.

Sapporo Snow Festival: February

The biggest winter festival is in Sapporo, in Hokkaido. In 2027 the 77th Sapporo Snow Festival runs from Thursday 4 February to Thursday 11 February, a national holiday, at three sites: Odori Park, Tsudome and Susukino. JNTO says it "draws over 2 million visitors each year" and advises booking accommodation early. At winter festivals like this one, JNTO describes snow and ice carved into anime characters, historical figures and famous buildings, and lanterns lighting paths lined with igloos.

Japanese festivals calendar: January to December

There is a festival somewhere in Japan in every month of the year. This calendar lists the ones JNTO and the festivals' own sites single out, month by month. For the next dates, with the day of the week, see the dates section near the end of this guide.

Summer festivals

When are Japanese summer festivals? Mostly from June to August. JNTO counts "hundreds of summer festivals happening in June, July and August", and August is the peak, with the Tohoku festivals, the Awa Odori, fireworks and the dances of Obon. In JNTO's words: "Some of the biggest and best festivals include Tokushima's Awa Odori and Aomori's approximately week-long Nebuta Matsuri". Obon itself, it says, usually falls between 13 and 16 August.

Autumn and winter festivals

Autumn is the season of harvest festivals and of historical parades. JNTO's guide to October calls it "a time of harvest and harvest festivals", and in Kyoto the Jidai Matsuri on 22 October sends about 2,000 people in the costumes of eight periods of history through the city. Winter belongs to the north, with snow festivals in Hokkaido, Akita, Niigata and Aomori, and on New Year's Eve in Oga City, Akita, performers dressed as namahage, which JNTO calls "a visiting deity who purges bad luck and brings good fortune", dance and glower at the crowds.

What happens at a Japanese festival

At a shrine festival the shrine's god goes out into the town and then comes home again. The Kyoto City Tourism Association explains the pattern: "In traditional Japanese festivals, the deity is carried from one shrine to a special place during the festival, and then, returned to their original place as the festival ends." Two rituals matter most, one to send the deity out and one to bring it back, and in both of them the spirit of the deity rides in a mikoshi, a portable shrine.

The Gion Matsuri follows this pattern. Its Shinko-sai is on 17 July, when the three sacred carriages of Yasaka Jinja are carried on men's shoulders from the shrine to the Otabisho on Shijo street, and its Kanko-sai, when they go back, is on 24 July. The famous floats were never the main event. In the association's words, "Opulently decorated floats were considered to be preliminary celebration before the important mikoshi processions."

How a mikoshi moves depends on the town. JNTO says some processions are calm, while at other festivals "the mikoshi is rocked back and forth for the deity's amusement". Shows are offered to the gods in the same spirit. The Takayama festival's site explains: "In Shinto ceremonies, not only are goods offered to the gods for their willingness to accept them, but also performing arts and traditional competitions are sometimes held."

Festival floats

Floats are the other big sight. JNTO says they stand for local spirits and gods, that people pull them instead of carrying them, and that they are richly decorated: "They can be small, pulled by just four or five people, or as large as buildings." The Gion floats are at the large end. JNTO's feature on festival history describes them as "As high as 25 meters and weighing up to 12 tons", covered in woven fabric, textiles and sculptures.

In Takayama the marionettes are called karakuri, and they have been part of the floats since they were introduced between 1804 and 1830. At the spring festival three floats, Sanbaso, Ryujin-tai and Shakkyo-tai, give their show at the Takayama Jinya, the old government house, where each doll's many strings are worked by six to eight masters, the tsunakata. The autumn festival in October has 11 floats, one of them with a marionette show.

UNESCO lists Japan's float festivals as intangible cultural heritage. It says they are held every year to ask the gods for peace and to keep natural disasters away, and that young and old, men and women, share the work, from building the floats to running the day. In its words, "Yama, Hoko and Yatai float festivals play a key role in community-building."

Music, dance and the shouts of the crowd

You will hear a festival before you see it. JNTO describes the sound: "Matsuri music is full of traditional sounds made by haunting reed flutes called hichiriki, plucky shamisen, and pounding taiko drums." On top of the music come the kakegoe, the cries of the performers, and the crowd joins in. At the Aomori Nebuta the band, the nebuta bayashi, plays drums, flutes and hand cymbals, and the festival's site explains how the three fit together: "The drummers set the rhythm, the flute plays the melody, and the cymbals accentuate the music." The dancers bounce along beside the floats while people cheer Rassera, Rassera.

Japanese festival food

Food is part of the fun. JNTO says "Yatai, or food stalls, sell both traditional and innovative matsuri foods", and its guide to Tokyo's summer festivals lists the stalls' "yakisoba, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, kakigori, and more". There are stalls at New Year, too. Of the year's first shrine visit, JNTO's guide to January says: "Even if your interest is purely secular, the festive atmosphere and food stalls make such events worth a look."

Food is often shared with people at home, too. JNTO notes: "Many people take food home as a souvenir for those who can't attend the festival." The big festivals are also trying to cut their waste. Since 2014 the Gion Matsuri has had a campaign for zero waste, and its night shops and street stalls, which between them serve almost 210,000 meals during the festival, are moving from throwaway to reusable plates and bowls.

What to wear to a Japanese festival

To watch, everyday clothes are fine. In summer many people dress up, and JNTO notes that "Yukata, summer kimono, are also common sights that many spectators choose to wear." Its guide to Tokyo's summer festivals talks of families, friends and couples "dressed in their best yukatas". The people taking part have their own styles of dress: a happi coat with the symbol of their community, a hachimaki headband, and tabi, cloth shoes split at the big toe so that they can be worn with geta, wooden sandals.

At the Aomori Nebuta the costume is your ticket in. Its official site says: "Anyone can join the dance as long as they wear a haneto costume, which is part of the festival's appeal." Department stores in Aomori City and other places sell the costume, and some shops will rent you one and help you dress.

How to join in at a Japanese festival

Can you take part? Often, but not always. Many festivals are put on by a community for its own deity or its own history, and JNTO is frank that "they aren't necessarily open to tourist participation". But it adds: "Some matsuri are opening up to the wider public to include visitors from abroad." At some festivals, it adds, spectators may even be invited to help carry a mikoshi. The easiest way in is the summer bon odori, held during Obon all over Japan and open to everybody. JNTO's advice: "Basic dances are easy to learn and the locals will be delighted to share their moves with you."

At the Nebuta the festival's site is clear that the dancers, called haneto, need no booking: "Hanetos can just walk in and start dancing." For the Awa Odori, you can practise first. The Awa Odori Kaikan, about 10 minutes on foot from JR Tokushima Station, explains the history of the dance and shows photos and videos of the festival, and a local group performs there through the day. At the end, the dancers ask visitors to come and try the easy steps with them, in the spirit of an old Tokushima proverb: "The dancing fool and the watching fool are both fools, so why not dance?" The festival's own site says the dance has always been easy for first-timers, as another old saying goes: raise your hands, move your feet, and you are dancing the Awa Odori.

If you would rather not dance, JNTO says you can still take part quietly, in a yukata, eating festival food and enjoying the atmosphere from the side of the street.

Paid seats and where to watch

The busiest parades also sell seats. At the Nebuta, for example, the festival's site warns that the spots along the route without seats are usually crowded, and the Akita Kanto builds its seats in tiers for a clear view.

For the Jidai Matsuri's general seats you need your own smartphone, with an internet connection, and earphones to hear the commentary. Special-seat guests are given an earphone device on the day, and their commentary comes from a specialist. If you only want to see the Akita Kanto poles up close, there is also a daytime contest from 4 to 6 August at Area Nakaichi, about a 10-minute walk from Akita Station, where teams and individuals compete in six events to decide the year's masters.

Festival etiquette: do's and don'ts

JNTO asks visitors to respect Japanese culture and traditions, so that each festival keeps its character. Its list starts with the basics: "Don't cut lines or litter." It adds that the community is not there to serve you, and asks you to keep out of the way of choreographed events and to be aware of your surroundings.

The point of it all, in JNTO's words: "Do have fun and make friends."

Japanese festivals 2026 and 2027

These are the next dates for the festivals in this guide, from late October 2026 to August 2027. Most of them fall on the same dates every year, while the Sapporo Snow Festival, the Kanda and Sanja festivals and the Sumidagawa fireworks move with the calendar. The days of the week are our own count, and for festivals tied to a weekend we have worked out the dates from the festival's rule.

Planning a festival trip

Choose the festival first, then build the rest of the trip round it. Many of the big ones fall close together: the three Tohoku festivals sit inside the first eight days of August, and in 2027 the second Gion Matsuri procession and the Tenjin Matsuri share the weekend of 24 and 25 July. For the summer festivals and the Sapporo Snow Festival, reserve a room early, before the city fills up.

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To cite or link to this page: Japanese festivals: what a matsuri is, the biggest festivals month by month, what to wear and eat, how to join in, and dates to August 2027 — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/culture/japanese-festivals/ Copy