Tohoku: From Tokyo… to festivals

In mid-June, as spring transitions into the stickiness of early summer, a parade of portable shrines, accompanied by musicians and hundreds of people in period costumes, works its way through the streets of central Tokyo. Called the Sanno Matsuri, this more than 400-year-old event, held over 11 days each year (and including a special procession of portable shrines on even-numbered years), is regarded as one of the three great Tokyo festivals handed down from the Edo era (1603-1867), along with the Kanda Matsuri in mid-May (in odd-numbered years) and Fukagawa Matsuri in mid-August (every three years).

All three events offer colorful glimpses of old Tokyo, and along with a plethora of fireworks shows and smaller scale festivities, they form part of an incredible array of annual celebrations in Japan’s capital.

Yet you don’t have to restrict yourself to Tokyo if you want to experience the festive side of Japan. You could combine a stay in the capital with a trip north to the Tohoku region, home to festivals that run the gamut from samurai reenactments to traditional street dancing—many of which began as prayers to the gods to protect the region’s rice crops and provide a bountiful harvest in autumn.

Drums, Dance, and Decorative Floats

If you are free in the first week of August, it’s possible to see several of Tohoku’s top matsuri, or festivals, in a single trip, starting with a ride on the high-speed Tohoku shinkansen bullet train a couple of hours north of Tokyo to Morioka in Iwate Prefecture for the Morioka Sansa Odori festival.

Held from August 1 to 4, each day of the festival features dancing that legend says was born centuries ago, when locals danced at Mitsuishi Shrine to celebrate the defeat of a demon that had been terrorizing Morioka’s castle town. Whatever the origin, the traditionally clad dancers, singers, drummers, and flutists create an incredible atmosphere.

From Morioka, you could then take the shinkansen an hour further north to Aomori City in Aomori Prefecture for the superb Nebuta Matsuri. Taking place between August 2 and 7 long-standing festival sees giant, paper-covered floats depicting characters from traditional kabuki plays and Japanese mythology being hauled through the streets teams of dancers and musicians. The striking artwork of the floats, each of which takes craftsmen months to design and build, appears to come alive when illuminated from within.

With a combination of bullet and regional JR trains, the final stop of this whirlwind festival tour could be in Yamagata Prefecture for the Yamagata Hanagasa, on August 5 to 7, an exhilarating street festival that brings together 10,000 performers of all ages. Whether dressed in vibrant summer kimonos or vivid happi coats, they perform variations of a regional Hanagasa dance, waving hats adorned with orange safflowers and singing folk songs, as musicians play a hypnotic mix of shamisen, or Japanese lute, shakuhachi flute, and taiko drums. 

If you do opt for all three festivals, consider buying JR East’s Tohoku Area Rail Pass, which gives substantial savings when taking multiple shinkansen rides both to and in the region. It’s also possible to fly from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to parts of Tohoku, including flights to Aomori, Akita, and Yamagata with JAL and Haneda to Akita and Odate-Noshiro with ANA.

Fireworks and Flyovers

Visiting Tohoku later in August, eyes will be looking skywards for more of the region’s standout summer events. In Miyagi Prefecture in late August every year, the Matsushima Airbase Air Show—near scenic Matsushima Bay—is an alternative to the traditional fireworks displays that occur all over Japan in summer, with pilots performing acrobatic stunts in the sky.

Travelers can also enjoy one of Japan’s best fireworks displays in Tohoku. In Akita Prefecture, which is served by the shinkansen from Tokyo and then a network of local trains, the Omagari Hanabi National Fireworks Competition on the final Saturday of August unites fireworks artists from around Japan, as they vie to be crowned the nation’s best pyrotechnician. The spectacle, which unfolds along the Omono River, sees some 18,000 fireworks exploding into a kaleidoscope of multi-colored patterns in the sky, and attracts more than 700,000 spectators annually.

Samurai and Star-crossed Lovers

Traditionally held at the end of July, but moved to the cooler days of late May from 2024 onwards, another classic Tohoku event is the Soma Nomaoi festival in Fukushima Prefecture’s Minamisoma City. Said to date back 1,000 years, this spectacular festival is centered on 400 riders in samurai armor, who gallop with flags strapped to their backs, like a flashback to the era when shogun ruled Japan. Over the three days of the event, there are also calmer parades, prayers for the well-being of horses, and plenty of pageantry to enjoy.

Even calmer is Sendai Tanabata Festival between August 6 and 8, an event dating the Edo era that celebrates the one day of the year when, legend has it, the Milky Way parts and allows the lovestruck deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (the stars Vega and Altair) to meet in the heavens. The people of Tohoku’s largest city celebrate by hanging long paper streamers that stretch for several yards throughout Sendai and enjoying the food stalls that set up around the city. It’s fun, colorful and, like festivals across Tohoku and Tokyo, an experience you’ll never forget.

Discover more sights and delights just a short trip from Tokyo here.