July 2026
2 events
07/20–07/21
Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Festival Float Procession
Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha and surroundings, Tsuchizaki-minato, Akita
Behind each float hangs a placard mocking the times. In the port town of Tsuchizaki in Akita, summer brings a procession
07/20–07/20
Shiogama Minato Festival
Shiogama Shrine and Shiogama Port, Shiogama, Miyagi
The gods cross the sea by boat. In summer, the two portable shrines of Shiogama Shrine in Miyagi are placed aboard lavis
August 2026
5 events
08/01–08/07
Hirosaki Neputa Festival
Dotemachi and surrounds, Hirosaki City, Aomori
Where Aomori's Nebuta moves fast and loud, Hirosaki's Neputa is slow and contemplative.
The floats are fan-shaped — pai
08/02–08/07
Aomori Nebuta Festival
Shinmachi-dori and surrounds, Aomori City, Aomori
Nine meters wide, five meters tall — the nebuta floats move through the streets of Aomori like creatures from another wo
08/04–08/08
Goshogawara Tachineputa
Tachineputa Museum and city streets, Goshogawara, Aomori
Look up, and your neck will ache. The towering floats of Goshogawara's summer festival rise some twenty-three meters, as
08/06–08/08
Sendai Tanabata Festival
Central arcade shopping district, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi
On the morning of August 6, the arcades of central Sendai are transformed overnight.
Enormous streamers of washi paper
08/16–08/18
Nishimonai Bon Odori
Honmachi-dori, Nishimonai, Ugo-cho, Akita
The dancers keep their faces hidden. Beneath deep woven hats or black hoods, they move through firelight without reveali
September 2026
2 events
09/11–09/13
Hanamaki Festival
Streets around Hanamaki Station, Hanamaki, Iwate
Many performing arts converge in a single festival. Hanamaki's autumn celebration fills the streets for three days with
09/19–09/23
Aizu Festival
Tsuruga Castle and central Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima
A town of the defeated never forgets its pride. In Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima, the Aizu Festival sends a grand procession
February 2027
1 events
02/01–02/02
Kurokawa Noh — Ogi Festival
Kasuga Shrine, Kurokawa, Tsuruoka, Yamagata
On the night of February 1st, in the farming village of Kurokawa in Yamagata Prefecture, the noh begins.
It has been go
Year-round
Year-round
Tono Festival
Tono City, Iwate
Tono is a town in the mountains of Iwate Prefecture that seems to remember things other places have forgotten. It was he
Year-round
Namahage Sedo Festival
Shinzan Shrine, Kitaura Shinzan, Oga, Akita
The Oga Peninsula in winter is a different country. Cold comes in off the Japan Sea, the cedar forests around Shinzan Sh
Year-round
Soma Nomaoi — The Wild Horse Chase
Hibaragahara Festival Grounds & Soma Nakamura Shrine, Minamisoma / Soma, Fukushima
The origin story is a thousand years old: Taira no Masakado, the warlord, released wild horses on the plains of what is
毎年2月中旬
Aizu Painted Candle Festival
Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima
The candles are painted with flowers — peonies, chrysanthemums, the colors of seasons that have not yet arrived. Set in
毎年5月3〜5日
Mizusawa Fujiwara Festival: Heian Pageant of the North
Mizusawa, Oshu City, Iwate
For three days in May, the streets of Mizusawa belong to another century. The Fujiwara clan built their northern capital
毎年8月6・7日
Noshiro Tanabata: Towers of Light
Noshiro City, Akita
Twenty-four meters. That is how tall the lantern towers rise — structures called 'the Sleepless Castles of the Sky,' and
毎年8月5〜7日
Yamagata Hanagasa Festival: The Dance of a Thousand Flower Hats
Central Yamagata City, Yamagata
Ten thousand dancers. Each carries a hanagasa — a broad hat decorated with red safflower blossoms — and moves through th