The next festivals
Start with these
Aizen Matsuri
Osaka's first summer festival, at a temple of the god of love, where young women in yukata are carried through the streets in festive palanquins.
Akita Kantō Matsuri
Performers balance tall bamboo poles hung with dozens of lit lanterns on their palms, foreheads, shoulders and hips, filling a whole avenue with swaying light.
Aoi Matsuri
A slow, elegant procession of some 500 people in Heian-period court dress, decorated with hollyhock leaves, walks from the Imperial Palace to Kyoto's two Kamo shrines.
Aomori Nebuta Matsuri
Giant glowing paper floats of warriors, gods and demons roll through Aomori at night, surrounded by thousands of leaping dancers that anyone can join.
Awa Odori
Japan's biggest dance festival. For four nights in August, the city of Tokushima dances in the streets, and visitors are invited to join.
Chichibu Night Festival
A winter night festival in the hills west of Tokyo, where lantern-lit floats are hauled up a steep slope under fireworks on a freezing December night.
Before you go
- Hatsumōde, the first shrine visit of the yearIn the first days of January, tens of millions of people visit a shrine or temple to pray for the year ahead. Here is how to join them, what to do when you arrive, and where to go.
Meet the gods behind the festivals
Amaterasu
The sun goddess who once hid in a cave and plunged the world into darkness. She is the most important kami in Shinto and the ancestor of Japan's imperial family.
Hachiman
The kami of archery and protection, guardian of the samurai and of the nation. Tens of thousands of Hachiman shrines stand across Japan.
Inari
The kami of rice and prosperity, famous for tunnels of orange torii gates and stone foxes. More shrines in Japan are dedicated to Inari than to any other kami.
Susanoo
The storm god who was thrown out of heaven, slew an eight-headed serpent, and is now the guardian at the center of Kyoto's Gion Matsuri.
Tenjin
A brilliant scholar who died in exile and was feared as an angry spirit, then honored as a kami. Today Tenjin is the god of learning, and students pray to him before exams.