September 2026
2 events
Festival
Tohoku
H
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
Festival
Tohoku
A
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
October 2026
3 events
Festival
Tohoku
H
10/03–10/03
Higashimatsushima Autumn Festival
Around Yamoto Station and the shopping association, Higashimatsushima, Miyagi
Higashimatsushima calls itself the blue town. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force base here is home to the Blue Impulse aer
Festival
Tohoku
O
10/03–10/03
Omagari Fireworks: Autumn Chapter
Omono River, Daisen, Akita
The autumn fireworks at Omagari are not a competition.
In August, this same riverbed hosts the contest that decides who
Festival
Tohoku
N
10/04–10/06
Nihonmatsu Chochin Matsuri: The Lantern Festival of Fukushima
Nihonmatsu Shrine and city center, Nihonmatsu, Fukushima
Fire is passed from a shrine's flame to the lanterns, and the festival begins.
On an October night in Nihonmatsu, in th
January 2027
2 events
Festival
Tohoku
D
01/02–01/02
Dainichido Bugaku
Ohirumemuchi Shrine, Donoue-16 Hachimantai, Kazuno, Akita
On the second morning of the year, while it is still dark and the snow lies deep across the Hachimantai basin, four haml
Festival
Tohoku
B
01/14–01/14
Bange Hatsuichi: The Great Bale Tug-of-War
Main Street by the Town Hall, Aizubange, Kawanuma District, Fukushima
People in Aizubange call January 14th their New Year's Day. The calendar disagrees, but the town has held to this since
February 2027
2 events
Festival
Tohoku
K
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
Festival
Tohoku
O
02/08–02/09
Ouchijuku Snow Festival
Snow settles on the thatch.
Ouchijuku was a post town once, a way station on the road that linked Aizu to Nikko, where
Year-round
Festival
Tohoku
T
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
Festival
Tohoku
N
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
Festival
Tohoku
S
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
Festival
Tohoku
A
毎年2月中旬の金・土
Aizu Painted Candle Festival
Tsurugajo Castle and Oyakuen Garden, Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima
They are painted with flowers — peonies, chrysanthemums, the blossoms of seasons not yet arrived. Each February these Ai
Festival
Tohoku
M
毎年5月3〜5日
Mizusawa Fujiwara Festival: Heian Pageant of the North
Mizusawa, Oshu City, Iwate
The Oshu Fujiwara clan built their capital in Hiraizumi — a northern court to rival Kyoto, some said, at the edge of the
Festival
Tohoku
N
毎年8月6・7日
Noshiro Tanabata: Towers of Light in Akita
Noshiro City, Akita
Twenty-four meters. That is the height of the largest lantern tower that moves through the streets of Noshiro on the nig
Festival
Tohoku
K
毎年8月第1金〜日（みちのく芸能まつり）
Kitakami Oni Kenbai: The Demon Sword Dance of Iwate
Kitakami City, Iwate
The dancers wear the masks of demons and carry swords, and the dance they perform is fast, percussive, and formally stru
Festival
Tohoku
O
毎年4月上旬〜中旬（桜の開花に合わせる）
Okawara Hitome Senbon Zakura: A Thousand Cherry Trees in One Glance
Shiroishi River embankment, Ogawara Town, Shibata-gun, Miyagi
The name means 'a thousand trees visible in a single glance,' and along the eight kilometers of the Shiroishi River emba
Festival
Tohoku
T
毎年4月下旬（さくらまつり期間中）
Tendo Human Shogi: Living Pieces on a Giant Board
Maizuruyama Park, Tendo City, Yamagata
Tendo produces more shogi pieces than anywhere else in Japan, and the Human Shogi festival is the city's annual celebrat
Festival
Tohoku
S
毎年12月上旬〜31日
Sendai Pageant of Starlight: Six Hundred Thousand Lights in Zelkova Trees
Jozenji-dori Avenue, Aoba-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi
The zelkova trees that line Jozenji-dori, Sendai's most elegant boulevard, are bare in December. From early in the month
Festival
Tohoku
S
2026年8月5日（水）19:00〜20:00
Sendai Tanabata Fireworks Festival
Nishikoen, Hirose River, Sendai, Miyagi
This is the eve of the festival of paper wishes. The Sendai Tanabata—one of the three great festivals of the Tohoku nort
Festival
Tohoku
Y
2026年8月初旬（花笠まつり前後・例年8月）
Yamagata Hanagasa Festival Fireworks
Mamigasaki River, Yamagata City
This is the summer of the flower hats. The Hanagasa Festival fills the streets of Yamagata with dancers holding straw ha
Festival
Tohoku
O
2026年8月（例年夏季）
Okitama Fireworks Festival
Mogami River, Yonezawa, Yamagata
Fireworks rise over the town of the Uesugi. Yonezawa was the castle seat of Uesugi Yozan, one of the most admired lords
Festival
Tohoku
S
例年8月下旬に開催。豪華な山車（やたい）の行列。ユネスコ無形文化遺産。日程は年により異なります。
Shinjo Festival
The floats become stories.
At the Shinjo Festival in late August, twenty floats called yatai move through the town, eac
Festival
Tohoku
N
例年10月下旬〜11月上旬が見頃
Naruko Gorge in Autumn: A Canyon of Color and Hot Water
Naruko Gorge, Naruko Onsen, Osaki, Miyagi
Narukokyo is a gorge a hundred meters deep, cut by the Oya River through the mountains of northern Miyagi, and for two w
Festival
Tohoku
K
毎年9月7日〜9日
Kakunodate Festival: When the Samurai Town Collides
Central Kakunodate, Semboku, Akita
For most of the year, Kakunodate is the quietest kind of famous: a preserved samurai town in the Akita mountains, black
Festival
Tohoku
Y
毎年2月15日・16日
Yokote Kamakura Festival: Rooms Made of Winter
City hall area, Haguro-cho, and sites across Yokote, Akita
In Yokote, deep in the snow country of Akita, February brings rooms made of winter. Kamakura are snow huts, some three m
Festival
Tohoku
H
毎年2月17日〜20日
Hachinohe Enburi: Going Out into the Snow to Call In Spring
Central Hachinohe and Chojasan Shinra Shrine, Aomori
In Hachinohe, on the snowbound Pacific coast of Aomori, spring does not arrive on its own. It has to be summoned. From F
Festival
Tohoku
H
毎年3月10日
Hote Matsuri (Shiogama Rough Mikoshi)
Shiogama Jinja, Shiogama, Miyagi
On March 10 each year, a portable shrine weighing a full ton descends 202 stone steps. This is the Hote Matsuri of Shiog
Festival
Tohoku
S
毎年12月31日〜元旦
Shoreisai (Haguro New Year's Eve Fire Rite)
Dewa Sanzan Shrine, Mt. Haguro, Tsuruoka, Yamagata
New Year's Eve on Mt. Haguro is examination day. Since September 24 — one hundred days — two yamabushi priests called ma
Festival
Tohoku
C
6月第2土曜
Chagu Chagu Umakko Horse Parade
Onikoshi Sozen Shrine, Takizawa, Iwate (start)
There is a festival in Iwate whose entire purpose is to thank horses. On the second Saturday of June, sixty to a hundred