Events & Gatherings

Gathering Chubu E

Year-round

Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale

Tokamachi, Niigata (Echigo-Tsumari region)

Echigo-Tsumari sits in the mountains along the border of Niigata and Nagano prefectures — a region of extraordinary snow

Gathering Tohoku T

Daily

Towada Oirase Art Festival

Lake Towada, Oirase Gorge and the city center, Towada, Aomori

The sound of the mountain stream becomes part of the work. In Towada, Aomori, lies Lake Towada and the Oirase Gorge that

Gathering Kyushu K

Daily

Kunisaki Peninsula Art Festival

Kunisaki, Bungotakada and the Kunisaki Peninsula, Oita

In a land of Buddhas, contemporary art takes up residence. The Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita is a round peninsula jutting i

Gathering Chubu N

Daily

Northern Alps Art Festival

Omachi and the surrounding hills and lakes, Nagano

In a town raised by snowmelt, you look at art. Omachi in Nagano sits right at the foot of the Northern Alps, peaks of th

Gathering Tohoku Y

Daily

Yamagata Biennale

Tohoku University of Art and Design and venues across Yamagata City

A university opens up a town. In Yamagata City, an art festival is held once every two years, organized by the Tohoku Un

Gathering Kanto K

Daily

KENPOKU ART (Ibaraki North Art Festival)

Northern Ibaraki, including Hitachi, Hitachiota, and Daigo

Sea and mountains: two faces in a single festival. Northern Ibaraki has a coastal area facing the Pacific and a mountain

Gathering Tohoku R

Daily

Reborn-Art Festival

Oshika Peninsula and central Ishinomaki, Miyagi

On the scars of the tsunami, art rises. Ishinomaki in Miyagi, and the Oshika Peninsula, were struck hard by the Great Ea

Gathering Chugoku I

通年（2〜4月初旬に架け替えあり）

Iya Kazurabashi: The Vine Bridge of the Hidden Valley

162-2 Zentoku, Nishi-Iyayama, Miyoshi City, Tokushima

The bridge is made entirely of mountain vines, woven and suspended over a gorge that drops fourteen meters to the river

Gathering Kinki A

3月下旬〜4月上旬（菜の花）、10月（コスモス）

Asuka Fujiwara Palace Ruins: A Field of Canola in Spring

Takadono, Kashihara City, Nara

The Fujiwara Palace was Japan's first permanent capital, built in 694 and abandoned thirty years later when the court mo

Gathering Tohoku T

通年（フェリーで約50分）

Tashirojima: The Island That Belongs to Cats

Tashirojima, Ishinomaki City, Miyagi

The human population of Tashirojima is roughly sixty, most of them elderly. The cat population is comparable. The cats a

Gathering Chugoku I

旧暦10月（神在月）

Izumo Taisha: The Month When All Gods Arrive

195 Kizukihigashi, Taisha-cho, Izumo City, Shimane

In the tenth month of the lunar calendar, Japan's eight million gods converge on Izumo. The rest of the country calls th

Gathering Kinki I

通年（月曜休）

Inujima Art Project: Ruins as Canvas

Inujima, Higashi-ku, Okayama City, Okayama

Inujima had a copper refinery that operated for just a decade before closing in 1919, leaving behind smokestacks and fur

Gathering Shikoku S

4月〜10月（通年催行あり）

Shimanto River Canoe Experience

Shimanto City and Shimanto Town, Kochi

The Shimanto is called Japan's last truly clear river, and the description is precise: no large dams interrupt its flow

Gathering Chubu T

4月中旬〜6月下旬

Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route: The Snow Corridor

Murodo, Tateyama Alpine Route, Toyama

Each spring, Japan turns a snow-removal project into a pilgrimage. The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, threading the North

Gathering Chugoku M

旧暦6月17日（毎年）

Miyajima Kangen-sai: Court Music on the Sea

Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima

The deity of Itsukushima Shrine travels by boat. On the evening of the Kangen-sai, a procession of vessels carrying musi

Gathering Kyushu A

通年（火山活動状況により立入制限あり）

Aso Kusasenri: The Grassland at the Volcano's Edge

Kusasenrigahama, Aso City, Kumamoto

The Aso caldera is one of the largest in the world, and Kusasenri sits inside it — a circular meadow on the flank of an

Gathering Hokkaido B

6月〜9月（メインシーズン）

Biei Panorama Hill Cycling Tour

Biei Town, Kamikawa, Hokkaido

The hills of Biei roll in long slow curves — wheat fields giving way to potato fields giving way to sunflower fields, th

Gathering Chubu G

通年（12月〜3月は冬季ライトアップあり）

Gero Onsen Gassho Village

2369 Mori, Gero City, Gifu

Gero is one of Japan's three most celebrated hot spring towns, which means most visitors come for the baths and leave wi

Gathering Other R

通年（8:30〜17:00）

Ryusendo Cave: Underground Lake of Iwate

1-1 Kannari, Iwaizumi-cho, Shimohei-gun, Iwate

Deep inside the mountain, the cave opens into a lake. The water is so clear that the measured visibility exceeds ninety-

Gathering Kinki B

国立文楽劇場（大阪・日本橋）で、初春・春・夏・秋など年に数回の本公演。日程は公演により異なります。

Bunraku at the National Theatre Osaka

Three people to a single puppet. Bunraku, the puppet theatre that grew up in Osaka, works its central illusion through

Gathering Kinki A

阿波十郎兵衛屋敷で、ほぼ毎日（時間は季節により変動）の定期上演。詳細は施設にご確認ください。

Awa Puppet Theatre at Jurobei Yashiki

Puppet theatre, but the village kind. The puppet drama of Awa is not the refined Bunraku of the city but something that

Gathering Chubu S

例年初夏〜秋にかけて、島内各地の能舞台で薪能が上演されます。日程は会場により異なります。

Sado Firelight Noh

The island has more than thirty Noh stages. Sado was a place of exile, and the exiles brought the arts of the capital w

Gathering Kinki M

壬生寺で、例年春（4月～5月）と秋、節分などに上演される無言の宗教劇。日程は年により異なります。

Mibu Kyogen

A kyogen with no voices. Mibu Kyogen has been performed at Mibu Temple in Kyoto for some seven hundred years, and its p

Gathering Chugoku I

石見地方（浜田・益田など）で、神社の祭礼や定期公演として夜を中心に上演されます。日程は会場により異なります。

Iwami Kagura Regular Performances

They dance all night. Iwami Kagura comes from the western end of Shimane, and it is at once a sacred rite and pure ente

Gathering Kanto S

小田原・厚木など神奈川県西部で、保存会により定期公演・神社祭礼で上演されます。日程は年により異なります。

Sagami Puppet Theatre

Puppet theatre, three to a figure. Sagami Ningyo is the puppet drama of western Kanagawa, around Odawara and Atsugi—the

Gathering Tohoku H

岩手・早池峰山麓（大償・岳）に伝わる神楽。例大祭や定期公演で奉納されます。日程は年により異なります。

Hayachine Kagura

A dance offered to the mountain god. Hayachine Kagura comes from the foot of Mount Hayachine in Iwate, bound up with th

Gathering Kinki K

例年1月下旬〜2月上旬（約10日間）

Kobe Luminarie: Light That Began as Mourning

Meriken Park, Higashi Yuen park, and the former foreign settlement, Kobe

Kobe Luminarie began as an act of mourning. In December 1995, eleven months after the Great Hanshin Earthquake killed mo

Gathering Chubu N

例年10月中旬〜翌5月末

Nabana no Sato: Half a Year of Light Outside Nagoya

Nabana no Sato, Nagashima, Kuwana, Mie

Nabana no Sato is a flower park on the edge of Kuwana, between Nagoya and the sea, and for more than half the year—mid-a

Gathering Hokkaido M

毎年10月上旬

Marimo Festival

There is a lake in eastern Hokkaido where a certain kind of algae grows into perfect green spheres. They are called mari

Gathering Tohoku Z

毎年12月下旬〜2月下旬

Zao Snow Monster Illumination

On the slopes of Mount Zao, in the deep Tohoku winter, the trees turn into monsters. It happens when supercooled water d

Gathering Kinki T

12月中旬〜下旬

Tottori Sand Dunes Illusion

Tottori Sand Dunes, Fukube-cho, Tottori

Japan does winter illumination with industrial enthusiasm — every city has its tunnel of lights. What Tottori has, alone

Gathering Kanto A

10月中旬〜2月中旬

Ashikaga Flower Park Illumination

Ashikaga Flower Park, Ashikaga, Tochigi

Ashikaga Flower Park is famous for one tree: a 160-year-old wisteria whose canopy, each spring, draws visitors from arou

Gathering Chubu H

毎年12月1日〜2月頃

Himi Winter Yellowtail Fair

Himi fishing port and restaurants, Himi, Toyama

Himi, a fishing town on Toyama Bay, has something few food destinations possess: an official declaration of honesty. Eac

Gathering Kanto S

例年11月中旬〜4月上旬

Sagamiko Illumillion

1634 Wakayanagi, Midori-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa

An hour west of Tokyo, the lights of the city thin out, the hills darken, and then — abruptly, extravagantly — six milli

Gathering Kyushu H

例年11月上旬〜翌春

Huis Ten Bosch Kingdom of Light

1-1 Huis Ten Bosch-cho, Sasebo, Nagasaki

On the western edge of Kyushu, a Dutch city that never was puts on thirteen million lights and becomes, for half the yea

Gathering Tohoku T

1月中旬〜2月中旬の土日

Tsugaru Ground Blizzard Experience

Meet at Kanagi Station, Tsugaru Railway, Kanagi, Goshogawara, Aomori

Jifubuki is not snow falling. It is snow that has already fallen, lifted off the ground by wind until the air turns whit