Season — 春
SPRING
Spring
Welcoming the gods beneath blossoms and praying for the harvest to come — spring festivals bring the first colour to towns emerging from winter.
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01 — Aomori
Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival
A spring festival at Hirosaki Park, where cherry trees of more than fifty varieties bloom against the moats and stone walls of Hirosaki Castle; it began as the "Kan'ōkai" cherry-viewing gathering of 1918.
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02 — Tokyo
Sanja Matsuri
The grand annual festival of Asakusa Shrine, in which the spirits of its three deities — Haji no Matsuchi, Hinokuma no Hamanari and Hinokuma no Takenari — are transferred into the shrine's mikoshi and carried through the neighbourhoods of Asakusa.
Typically: The Friday, Saturday and Sunday around the third Saturday of May
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03 — Tokyo
Kanda Matsuri
The festival of Kanda Myōjin, guardian shrine of Edo. In the Edo period its procession of mikoshi and floats entered Edo Castle to be viewed by the shogun, earning it the name "Tenka Matsuri," the festival of the realm.
Typically: Mid-May (the full festival with the divine procession is held every two years; the grand rite falls on May 15)
04 — Kyoto
Aoi Matsuri (Kamo Festival)
The annual festival of Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines, known of old as the Kamo Festival. On May 15 a procession in Heian-court dress travels from the Kyoto Imperial Palace to both shrines.
Typically: Annually on May 15 (Roto no Gi procession)
05 — Gifu
Takayama Matsuri (Spring Sanno Festival and Autumn Hachiman Festival)
The collective name for Hie Shrine's Sanno Festival in April and Sakurayama Hachimangu's Hachiman Festival in October, when ornate festival floats that flourished in the late Edo period are drawn out into the town.
Typically: Spring Sanno Festival annually on April 14–15; autumn Hachiman Festival annually on October 9–10
06 — Toyama
Takaoka Mikurumayama Festival
The spring grand festival of Takaoka Sekino Shrine, in which seven Mikurumayama floats adorned with Takaoka's metalwork and lacquer craft are drawn through the old town to the sound of festival music.
Typically: Annually on May 1 (with an eve festival on April 30)
07 — Nagano
Onbashira Festival of Suwa Taisha
Suwa Taisha's greatest rite, held in the Years of the Tiger and the Monkey: great fir trunks are hauled down from the mountains and raised at the four corners of each of the shrine's four sanctuaries.
Typically: Held every seventh year (counting inclusively), in the Years of the Tiger and the Monkey; the Yamadashi takes place in April and the Satobiki in May