MATSURI JAPAN — CELEBRATETHE SOULOF JAPAN.

01 — Prologue

ONCE A YEAR,THE CITYBECOMESSOMETHING ELSE.

Floats advance through the streets, lanterns light the night, and portable shrines sway on a sea of shoulders. A Japanese matsuri is the moment each year when prayer to the gods and a community's memory take visible form. MATSURI JAPAN introduces these festivals through the turning seasons — together with the faith, history and people behind them.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals2016

Festival rites centered on processions of floats (yama, hoko, yatai), carried out by whole communities to pray for local peace and protection from disaster. In 2016, 33 elements — all nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties — were inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, expanding the 2009 inscriptions of the Kyoto Gion Festival float ceremony and Hitachi Furyumono. Safeguarding includes training successors, documenting the events, securing materials and repairing or renewing equipment.Source: 山・鉾・屋台行事 - 文化遺産オンライン（文化庁）(external site, opens in a new tab)

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Furyū-odori2022

On November 30, 2022, the 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage decided to inscribe 'Furyū-odori'. The nomination expanded the 2009 inscription of 'Chakkirako' by grouping 41 furyū dances from across Japan, all nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties.Source: 「風流踊」のユネスコ無形文化遺産登録（代表一覧表記載） | 文化庁(external site, opens in a new tab)

Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties2025

Folk cultural properties are the tangible and intangible traditions people have created and passed down in daily life — customs related to food, clothing, housing, livelihoods, beliefs and annual events; folk performing arts; folk techniques; and the clothing, tools and buildings used for them — that show how lives have changed. The national government designates especially important ones as Important Tangible or Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties; there were 337 Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties as of April 1, 2025. There are also registered intangible folk cultural properties and a category of intangible folk cultural properties selected for documentation.Source: 民俗文化財 | 文化庁(external site, opens in a new tab)

Prefectural and municipal designations

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the national government enacts the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties and designates, selects and registers important cultural properties, while local governments enact their own cultural-property protection ordinances and designate or select important properties other than those designated by the state. Prefectural and municipal designations are therefore a separate system, and a festival designated by a prefecture or city should be labeled distinctly from a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.Source: 国，地方公共団体，所有者，国民の主な役割 | 文化庁(external site, opens in a new tab)