Festivals of Japan
May 20, 2013
A record crowd of 1.87 million turned out for this year's annual Sanja Matsuri festival, which culminated on May 19 with a parade of main portable shrines through Tokyo’s...
February 02, 2013
A long, long time ago in a place far, far away, the grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami picked a rural spot to straighten out the troubled and corrupt land. That...
January 25, 2013
In the "snow country" up north, just about every community has its own festival and ritual. In the winter months in Akita Prefecture, this typically involves "namahage," men...
January 25, 2013
Nara, the graceful eighth-century capital of Japan, is almost bursting at the seams with ancient rites and rituals. Among them is the Kasuga Wakamiya Onmatsuri festival in...
January 25, 2013
"Logging on" takes on new meaning when the Suwa Taisha shrine in Nagano Prefecture celebrates its festival of the sacred pillar. Here, towering fir trees are felled in a nearby ...
January 25, 2013
Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital, attracts tourists from all over the world. Most of them come to Kyoto to seek an ancient atmosphere of Japan. Of course, you can enjoy it...
January 25, 2013
Here's a festival that leaves thousands of men, clad only in happi coats and loincloths, literally panting.
January 25, 2013
Kyoto. The name evokes the geisha of Gion and the mystique of old Japan. So what better way to experience that than by hightailing it to the ancient capital for the renowned...
January 25, 2013
It may look easy, but try to imagine carrying a flaming torch weighing 50 kilograms. That, in a nutshell, is what makes the July fire festival of the Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine ...
January 25, 2013
To an outsider, it might sound kind of spooky to learn that midsummer is when the souls of our ancestors are said to descend to this earthly world to briefly check up on our...
January 25, 2013
For countless Tokyoites, the annual fireworks spectacular over the Sumidagawa river makes the humid summer nights a tad easier to bear-and even look forward to.
January 25, 2013
Think of battle scenes in the movie "The Last Samurai," and you have an inkling of the splendor of the Soma Nomaoi, or "wild horse chase" festival.
January 25, 2013
Japanese hardly need an excuse to party. Witness the tens of thousands of festivals held each year. For many people, the mere mention of matsuri triggers childhood memories of...
January 25, 2013
Sendai puts on a dazzling welcome for the crowds who flock each August to the Tanabata Festival. The capital of Miyagi Prefecture becomes an orgy of color at this time of year.
January 25, 2013
One of Japan's great treats during the long and hot summer, offering plenty of local flavor and color, are the festivities surrounding Bon, when Japanese return to their...
January 25, 2013
Just getting to the summer festivals of rural Japan can be a challenge, but the experience when you get there is often more than worth the effort.
January 25, 2013
There's no escaping Bon festivals in summer. They seem to be held everywhere. But one, held in Ugo, Akita Prefecture, in August is extra special.
January 25, 2013
In Yatsuo, Toyama Prefecture, it all depends on which way the wind is blowing.
January 25, 2013
The Kishiwada Danjiri Festival in Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture, is a such boisterous affair you should be warned there is some risk to life and limb.
January 25, 2013
One thing about the Nada "Quarreling" Festival in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture: It lives up to its name. First of all, there's a huge, jostling crowd to contend with. Second,...