­­­­­­­­­­­­­2011 Japan Festivals  & Events

January | ­February | ­­­­March | ­­­April | May | June­ | July | August­ | September | October­ | November | December­

­February­

­­Sapporo Snow Festival

• Date: February 6 & 12, 2012
  
• Place: Sapporo (Hokkaido)
  
• ­­Details:­ The Sapporo Snow Festival is one of Japans largest Winter events held annually and lasts for seven days in early February. Ever winter, over two million people flock to Sapporo to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures carved along the streets. For these seven days, Sapporo is transformed into a winter dreamland of crystal-like ice and white snow, making this a magical holiday for couples, families, and groups of friends looking for an alternative and cultured ski or winter holiday option.
  
• Tours featuring the Sapporo Snow Festival include: Winter Wonderland featuring Hokkaido

March

­­Grand Sumo Tournament (March)­

• Date: March 11 - 25, 2012
  
• Place: Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
  
• ­­Details:­ Sumo wrestling, considered by many as Japan’s national sport, was once a form of ritual, dedicated to the Gods with prayers for a bountiful harvest. There are six Grand Tournaments a year, three in Tokyo, one in Osaka, Nagoya and Kyushu. A tournament lasts for fifteen days, each competitor or rikishi fighting once every day with a different opponent. The winner of the tournament (rikishi with the best record of wins over losses) is awarded the Emperor’s Cup on the final day of the last match.­

• Tickets can be bought through UJT for all Sumo Wrestling games - contact us for more prices and available seats.  
  

April­­­­­­­

­Takayama Spri­ng Festival­­­­­

• Date: April 14 & 15
• Place: Takayama­
• ­­Details:­ Ranked as one of Japans three most beautiful festivals, the Takayama festival highlights ­include a parade of magnificently carved giant wooden floats, ancient puppets, and colourful costumes.
• Tours featuring Takayama Spring Festival include: Japan Discovered

May

­­Grand Sumo Tournament (May)­

• Date: May 6 - 20, 2012
  
• Place: Tokyo, Kokugikan
  
• ­­Details:­ Sumo wrestling, considered by many as Japan’s national sport, was once a form of ritual, dedicated to the Gods with prayers for a bountiful harvest. There are six Grand Tournaments a year, three in Tokyo, one in Osaka, Nagoya and Kyushu. A tournament lasts for fifteen days, each competitor or rikishi fighting once every day with a different opponent. The winner of the tournament (rikishi with the best record of wins over losses) is awarded the Emperor’s Cup on the final day of the last match.­
• Tours featuring Grand Sumo Tournament (Ma­y) include: Traditional & Tropical Japan, Japan Discovered
  

­­Aoi Matsuri (Hollyhock Festival)

• Date: May 15
  
• Place: Kyoto
  
• ­­Details:­Some 500 people wearing splendid ancient costumes and traditional make-up parade through the main streets of Kyoto. This festival came to be called Aoi Matsuri because aoi (hollyhock) leaves are used as ornaments not only on the people's costumes, but even on cows and horses.­

June

­­­Sanno Matsuri

• Date: June 9 - 16
  
• Place: Tokyo
  
• ­­Details:­ The Sanno Matsuri is famous as a festival permitted by the Shogun to enter the grounds of Edo Castle during the Edo Period (1603-1867), along with the Kanda Matsuri. It was also one of the three largest festivals ­ of Japan. The main procession called jinkosai takes place in the middle of June in every other year according to the Western calendar.
  
  About 300 people dressed in ancient co­stumes parade through the heart of Tokyo including Tokyo Station, Ginza, and in front of the Diet Building. Consisting of mikoshi (portable shrines) adorned with a phoenix on the roof, dashi floats, people carrying drums, people on horseback, the procession extends over a length of 600 meters. You will also see people dressed as the legendary goblin called Tengu, characterized by a red face and a long nose, and believed to possess supernatural powers. The procession which departs from Hie-jinja Shrine at 8 o'clock in the morning does not return to the shrine until early in the evening.

July

­Gion Matsuri Festival­­

• Date: July 1 - 29 (Main July 17)­
• Place: Kyoto­
• ­­Details:­ The Gion Matsuri, familiarly known as 'Gion-san,' is a festival held at Yasaka-jinja Shrine, and the highlight is the splendid pageant of some 30 floats called yamaboko proceeding along the main streets of Kyoto on the 17th of July every year.
• Tours featuring Gion Matsuri Festival include: The Northern Trail, Japan Discovered
  

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­Grand Sumo Tournament (July)

• Date: July 8 - 22, 2012
  
• Place: Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture Gymnasium
• Tours featuring Grand Sumo Tournament (July) include: The Northern Trail, Japan Discovered, Highlights of Japan
  

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­Nachi-no-Hi-Matsuri­

• Date: July 14
  
• Place: Kumano Nachi Taisha Shrine, Wakayama
  
• Details: Nachi-no-Hi-Matsuri, which is one of the three largest fire festivals of Japan, is staged in the Kumano mountains of Wakayama Prefecture, an area registered as a World Heritage Site. 12 vermilion mikoshi (portable shrines), 6 meters tall, decorated with ogi fans and mirrors, are designed in the image of the Nachi-no-Otaki Falls (the Great Waterfall of Nachi) near the shrine. At the Kumano Nachi-taisha Shrine, the waterfall itself is the object of worship and is regarded as a deity. During the festival, you can enjoy viewing the mystical scene of 12 huge 50-kg pine torches waved around so very close to these portable shrines that it appears as if the portable shrines are about to be scorched. The enormous pine torches represent the 12 deities dwelling in Kumano as well as the 12 months of the year. The portable shrines, which are produced in the image of the sacred falls, are filled with the spirits of the 12 gods, and then purified by the fire of the pine torches; in this manner, vitality is enhanced through these sacred rituals, which is one important objective of this festival.

Tenjin Matsuri

• Date: July 24 & 25­
  
• Place: Osaka Tenman Shrine
  
• Details: Having a history of more than 1,000 years, the Tenjin Matsuri, which is one of the three greatest festivals of Japan, is also the world's greatest boat festival. It is a summer festival held at the Tenman Shrine dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane (845-903), who is deified as Tenman Tenjin, the patron god of learning and art. On the days of the festival, traditional Japanese performing arts such as kagura music, which is performed when paying homage to gods, and bunraku theatrical performances using puppets are performed in all parts of the city, and the entire city becomes filled with a festive mood.­­
  
  One of the highlights of the festival is the land procession, which is a parade of some 3,000 people dressed in the imperial-court style of the 8th-12th Centuries marching beside portable shrines. The other highlight is the boat procession, when the same 3,000 people board some 100 boats from the approach of the Tenmabashi Bridge and sail upstream.­

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­Sumida River Fireworks Display

• Date: Last Saturday of July
  
• Place: Venue No.1: from downstream of Sakurabashi Bridge to upstream of Kototoibashi Bridge
  Venue No.2: from downstream of Komagatabashi Bridge to upstream of Umayabashi Bridge
  City:Taito-ku and Sumida-ku, Tokyo
• Details: One of the major fireworks displays of Tokyo. On the last Saturday of July, the oldtown evening sky turns into a spectacle of dazzling colors from several tens of thousands of fireworks. This annual event is said to have originated in the custom of the common people of Edo viewing fireworks while enjoying the cool of the summer evening.

Au­gust

­Awa Odori Dance Festival­

• Date: August 12 -15
• Place: Tokushima
• ­­Details:­ ‘Awa’ is the former name for Tokushima prefecture and ‘Odori’ means to dance. During Obon season, over one million people come to Tokushima, to watch the most famous of many dance festivals in Japan . Dressed in their summer kimono and costumes, the men and women perform their street dances to the lyrics of the ‘fools’ dance: “Fools dance and fools watch, if both are fools, you might as well dance”!!
• Tours featuring Awa Odori Dance Festival­­ include: Lost in Japan
  

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­Earth Celebration on Sado Island­

• Date: August 17-19, 2012
• Place: Sado Island­
• ­­Details:­ Once a year in the quiet port town of Ogi, people gather from all over the world to transform Sado Island into a bustling international arts festival, Earth Celebration. The world renowned Japanese Taiko drummers, Kodo, are home to Sado Island and invite musicians and perform at this energetic festival.
  
• Tours featuring Earth Celebration Festival include: The Northern Trail

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­­Daimonji Gozan Okuribi ­(Daimonji Bonfire)

• Date: August 16
• Place: All places within Kyoto City
  
• ­­Details:­ The Daimonji Gozan Okuribi (Daimonji Bonfire) is an event held on the evening of August 16th, when gigantic Chinese characters and other motifs are depicted by fires lit to illuminate the surroundings for patrolling on the slopes of the mountains surrounding the Kyoto Basin. It is a famous for evoking the image of a Kyoto summer.

Septem­ber

Grand Sumo Tournament (September)

• Date: September 9 - 23, 2012
  
• Place: Tokyo, Kokugikan
  
• Tours featuring Grand Sumo Tournament (September) include: Japan Discovered, Highlights of Japan­­
  

October­

­­Takayama Autumn Festival­­­­­

• Date: October 9 & 10

• Place: Takayama­

• ­­Details:­ Ranked as one of Japans three most beautiful festivals, the Takayama festival highlights ­include a parade of magnificently carved giant wooden floats, ancient puppets, and colourful costumes.

• Tours featuring Takayama Autumn Festival include: Traditional & Tropical Japan

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Kurama Fire Festival­­ Kyoto

• Date: Oct 22
• Place: Kyoto
• ­­Details:­ This is one of Kyoto’s three most spectacular festivals said to reenact the scene of the enshrined deity greeted after traveling from the Imperial Palace to Kurama-no-Sat village, at the end of the Heian Period. Watch fires are lit at the entrances of local houses. At 6pm the town is lit up with torches carried by children and locals wearing straw warrior sandals and costumes.
• Tours featuring Kurama Fire Festival include: Japan Discovered Oct 19­

­­

The Japanese Formula One Grand Prix

• Date: Oct 7 - 9
  
• Place: Mie, Suzuka Circuit
  
• ­­Details: ­The Japanese Formula One Grand Prix is held in October over one weekend at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. This attracts thousands of both domestic and overseas spectators
  every year so we recommend booking your tickets early to get the best seats at the best price.
  
• Tours featuring The Japanese Formula One Grand Prix include: Wonders of the West
  

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­­Nada no Kenka Matsuri (Nada Fighting Festival)

• Date: Oct 14 & 15
  
• Place: Matsubara Hachiman Shrine, Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture
  
• ­­Details: ­Nada no Kenka Matsuri is the popular name for a festival held at the Matsubara Hachiman Shrine in the town of Shirahama, Himeji City. It came to be called by this name, Kenka Matsuri or 'Fighting Festival' because the mikoshi (portable shrines) are jolted against one another when carried on the shoulders of the men in the parade.
  

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­­Nikko Toshogu Shrine ­Shuki Taisai Grand Autumn Festival

• Date: Oct 17
  
• Place: Nikko Toshogu Shrine, Tochigi Prefecture
  
• ­­Details:­ This is the autumn festival of Nikko Toshogu, a registered World Heritage Site, where the Shunki Reitaisai - Grand Spring Festival is staged on May 17th and 18th. Just as in the Spring Festival, the main attraction in the Grand Autumn Festival is the grand procession of men dressed in samurai costumes (known as Hyakumono-Zoroe Sennin Gyoretsu or the Parade of 1,000 Samurai Warriors).

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­­Jidai Matsuri

• Date: October 22
• Place: Heian Jingu Shrine, Kyoto
  
• ­­Details:­ A grand ancient-costume procession where the long history of Japan unfolds before the spectators. A festival held at the Heian Jingu Shrine, the Jidai Matsuri is one of the three largest festivals of Kyoto together with the Aoi Matsuri - Hollyhock Festival (May 15th) and the Gion Matsuri (July 1st - 31st).

November

­­Grand Sumo Tournament (November)

• Date: November 11 - 25, 2012
  
• Place: Fukuoka, Kokusai Centre
  
• Tours featuring Grand Sumo Tournament (November) include: Highlights of Japan
  

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­­Hakone Daimyo Gyoretsu­ ­(Feudal Lord's Procession in Hakone)

• Date: November 3
  
• Place: Yumoto Hot Spring Town, Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture
  
• Details:­ An annual tourist event held on Culture Day (a national holiday), November 3rd, at Yumoto Onsen, Hakone. A procession of a total of 170 people dressed up as samurai warriors and princesses parades over a distance of some 6 km in the hot spring town.
  The procession is reproduced in the style of the Daimyo Gyoretsu (feudal lord's procession)which was also known as sankin kotai during the Edo Period (1603-1867). The suite of retainers, each assigned with his role, and armed with spear, bow and arrow, or gun, march on as they carry their lord in the palanquin to the words, 'Down! Down! The Lord comes!' voiced aloud by those leading the procession.­­­

Dece­mber

­Chichibu Yomatsuri ­(Chichibu Night Festival)

• Date: December 2 and 3
• Place: Chichibu Shrine, Saitama
• Details: Chichibu Yomatsuri is a festival of Chichibu Shrine which has a history of more than 2,000 years. It is one of Japan's three greatest hikiyama (float) festivals, together with the Gion Matsuri of Kyoto (July 1st-31st) and the Takayama Matsuri of Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture (April 14th and 15th, and October 9th and 10th).

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­Kasuga Wakamiya On-Matsuri

• Date: December 15-18
• Place: Wakamiya-jinja Shrine, Nara
  (in the precincts of the Kasuga Taisha Grand Shrine)
• Details: ­The On-Matsuri is a festival held at Wakamiya-jinja Shrine which stands in the precincts of the Kasuga Taisha Grand Shrine. It was first organized in the 12th Century when an epidemic prevailed, and prayers were offered at this festival for the eradication of the plague and also for the blessing of a rich harvest. This historic festival continues to be one of the largest annual events of Nara Prefecture, attracting a great many tourists.