Colorful leaves (koyo) are to the Japanese autumn what cherry blossoms are to spring. The viewing of autumn leaves has been a popular activity in Japan for centuries and today draws large numbers of travelers to famous koyo spots both in the mountains and in the cities.
See a calendar of Japanese festivals for autumn. Various festivals and ceremonies take place during the fall harvest season in Japan.
Eisa is a dance of the Okinawan islands that’s danced while playing a taiko drum. It features 10,000 Eisa dancers dancing to folk, modern rock and pop songs.
One of Japan’s biggest cart pulling festivals centered around Kishiwada Castle in Osaka. This festival is really two festivals — one in September and one in October. Large wooden carts are pulled by different neighborhoods who complete with each other to be the most energetic.
A festival in Kumamoto on the island of Kyushu. The highlight of the festival is the chasing of the horses — about 17,000 people chase 67 decorated horses shouting “Dookai Dookai”.
The festival is related to ancient Buddhist traditions of letting domesticated animals experience the freedom of being wild. The horses do indeed go wild when chased by 17,000 shouting people. Chasers are often injured by the horses.
A massive video game convention (expo) held annually at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba. The first 2 days are for industry insiders and the press. The last 2 days are open to the public. Around 200,000 people attend.
A two part festival that takes place at the end of September and start of October in Ikebukuro, one of Tokyo’s largest neighborhoods that features parades, mikoshi, music, folk dance and a yosakoi competition.
The Nagasaki Kunchi Festival began as a way to find hidden Christians in the 1600s. At the time, Christianity was banned in Japan. Nagasaki was a hotbed of underground Christianity.
One festival tradition known as “garden showing” has local residents open their homes to the public. The festival also features dances by 59 neighborhoods on a seven year rotating schedule. Many of these dances have European or Chinese influences.
A harvest festival on Shikoku Island involving 47 teams of approximately 150 men carrying floats shaped like taiko drums. The highlight of the festival is a tradition known as float fighting whereby teams bounce the floats wildly in the air with great competitive spirit.
In some cases, the teams end up ramming each other to try to destroy the opposing floats by toppling them. The floats weigh over 2 tons.
A Tengu is a Japanese demon with a long red nose. Like so many figures of Japanese mythology he’s complex — he’s not exactly a good guy and not exactly a bad guy.
There are Tengu Matsuri all over Japan. Some festivals are aimed at getting rid of Tengu, usually by throwing beans at him. Others honor the Tengu.
The Tengu Matsuri in Osaka honors the Tengu (god of sound health, the prosperity of descendants；annual festival held on October ).
The Jidai Matsuri in Kyoto is a large historical reenactment parade. Celebrants dress in authentic Heian-era (794 – 1185) costumes including emperors, shoguns, samurai, military figures and common people.
A 4 day buskers festival in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture. Most festivals in Japan are locally focused. It’s good to see a Japanese festival include the international community.
Every year the festival attracts around 2 million visitors. It’s also a popular festival for performers (only a small percentage of applications to perform are accepted).
A two day dance and music festival at the start of November. Dances by thousands of performers to local folk music (Ohara-bushi and Hanya-bushi) are the highlights of the festival. Taiko drums feature prominently in local music traditions — it’s quite intense.
