Kanazawa’s 3-Day Festival: Hyakumangoku
15.02.2023
More than a mere historical reenactment, the Hyukumangoku Festival, with its three full days of samurai, dancing, and numerous cultural activities, celebrates Kanazawa culture and history like no other event!
Two Japanese Ice House Festivals: Winter Warmup & Summer Snow
26.01.2023
courtesy the city of Kanazawa In southeast Kanazawa, on a mountainside, nestled in a dense forest, up a hill and beside a lake, is the tiny thatched hut, Himuro Koya, the “Ice House Cottage.” Twice a year folks from all over Is…
New Year’s in Kanazawa: Stripping Firefighters, Holy Prayers
30.12.2022
Ring a temple bell, get your shrine fortune, and watch acrobatic Japanese firefighters strip in the snow! Here's what to expect for New Year's in Kanazawa.
Events In and Around Kanazawa, a Masterlist
09.12.2022
Hoping to catch a festival or just want to know what to do in Kanazawa while you're here? Here's our ever-updating masterlist of events for you!
Doburoku Festival: Sake Celebrations in Shirakawago!
18.10.2022
Japan has very strict provisions on sake brewing. If you want to make nihon-shu, the drink we call “sake” in English, you have to register and establish a brewery under particular guidelines. Moonshine sake is forbidden. Except…
Owara Kaze no Bon, Toyama’s Mysterious Dancing Festival
26.12.2019
Hundreds of women in uniform kimono dance through the night, ghost-like, faces hidden under folded straw hats, in a prayer to the wind to spare them this year during Toyama's Festival of the Dead.
Noyaki: Wildfire Earthenware on Kanazawa’s Beach
30.08.2019
Once every summer, just as the temperatures have passed their peak, a god of fire is called to work the creation of a unique kind of Japanese earthenware on Kanazawa’s shores. Noyaki, literally translated as “wild burning” or &…
Persimmons, Water & Walking Shrines: Kakinobatake Mizukake Festival
21.07.2019
A neighborhood festival to ward off the summer heat, the Mizukake Festival in Kanazawa's Kakinobatake district is a wet and wild water festival, incorporating taiko, sake, portable shrines and the area's namesake, the persimmon.
Seseragi Marriage Festival
18.05.2019
Looking for true love in Japan? Say a prayer at the shrine during Seseragi-dori's Marriage Festival, a quaint but supremely friendly street fair in late May
Yosakoi: Experiencing Japan’s High Energy Festival Dance
17.05.2019
Sarah Morris – "I can’t recommend going to see yosakoi enough, especially the Kanazawa festival. Eat some festival food, have a blast, AND JOIN IN THE FESTIVITIES! There’s a giant dance at the end that everyone can join in together."
Machiya, Traditional Japanese Living for the Lowest Class
10.11.2018
architecture event history Japanese living machiya Daily Life for Merchants & Crafters, Centuries Ago… Kanazawa sometimes shares the moniker “Little Kyoto” for its historical city-scape. You may already know the heritage spots of…