Events & Gatherings

Festival Chubu G

例年7月中旬〜9月上旬（約30夜）

Gujo Odori

Hachiman, Gujo, Gifu

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

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 Chubu H

毎年4月19・20日

Hida Furukawa Festival: The Drums Before Dawn

Keta Wakamiya Shrine, Furukawa, Hida City, Gifu

The drumming begins at three in the morning. This is the essential fact of the Furukawa Festival: it starts before dawn,

Festival Chubu O

毎年9月第3土・日

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 Chubu O

毎年4月第3日曜前後

Okazaki Ieyasu Festival: The Birthplace of the Edo Shogunate

Okazaki Park and surrounding area, Okazaki City, Aichi

Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in Okazaki Castle in 1543. From this starting point, he navigated the chaos of the Sengoku peri

Festival Chubu H

毎年5月3〜5日

Hamamatsu Kite Festival: One Hundred and Seventy Teams in the Sky

Nakatajima Sand Dunes and Hamamatsu Castle Park, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka

The Hamamatsu kite festival began as a private celebration — families flying kites to announce the birth of a child, the

Festival Chubu N

毎年1月15日

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 Chubu M

毎年10月第1土曜

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 Chubu G

2026年8月上旬（例年8月第1土曜前後）

Gifu Nagaragawa Fireworks Festival

Nagara River, Gifu City, Gifu

Fire falls on the river of the cormorant fishermen. The Nagara is one of Japan's clearest rivers, famous for the ancient

Festival Chubu N

2026年8月上旬（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 Chubu T

2026年7月中旬（例年7月）

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 Chubu S

2026年7月下旬（例年夏季）

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 Chubu T

例年5月1日に開催。豪華絢爛な御車山（山車）の巡行。ユネスコ無形文化遺産。

Takaoka Mikurumayama Festival

Floats of lavish metalwork. At the Takaoka Mikurumayama Festival, on the first of May, seven floats process through a t

Festival Chubu N

例年4月中旬に開催。子ども歌舞伎を載せた曳山の巡行。ユネスコ無形文化遺産。日程は年により異なります。

Nagahama Hikiyama Festival

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

Festival Chubu S

例年4月上旬に開催。甲冑姿の武者行列「甲州軍団出陣」。日程は年により異なります。

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 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

Festival Chubu A

毎年12月15日・16日

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 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 Chubu F

毎年5月1日・2日

Fukuno Yotaka Festival

Central Fukuno, Nanto, Toyama

On the nights of May 1 and 2, the small market town of Fukuno in the Tonami plain of Toyama fills with towering lanterns

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

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

Festival Chubu N

毎年11月23日

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 Chubu A

毎年6月5日

Atsuta Festival

Atsuta Jingu, Nagoya, Aichi

The number to know is 365. At dusk on June 5, in the cedar-dark grounds of Atsuta Jingu — the 1,900-year-old Nagoya shri

Festival Chubu K

例年2月最終土日

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 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