日本の祭り — 季節と地域の象徴

Japanese matsuri have been tied to Shinto since ancient times and have fulfilled the role of symbolizing the transition of the four seasons and regional communities. Spring brings the harvest-prayer Toshigoi-no-Matsuri, summer brings Gion-style festivals to purify plagues and misfortune, autumn brings the harvest-thanksgiving Niiname-sai, and winter brings new year festivals — events where gods and people interact are held throughout the year in every region.

A representative spring event is the Hina Matsuri (Peach Festival) on March 3rd. Wishing for the healthy growth of girls, families display Hina dolls and offer hishimochi (diamond rice cake), chirashi sushi, and shirozake (white sake). Arranged from the top tier with imperial dolls (male and female), then three court ladies, and five musicians, it can become a luxurious seven-tier display at largest.

May 5th is Tango no Sekku (Children's Day), celebrating the growth of boys. Households display helmets and May dolls, and raise carp streamers on gardens and verandas. Originating from the Chinese legend "Dragon Gate" — in which a carp climbs a waterfall to become a dragon — the streamers symbolize the wish for a child's success in life. There is also a custom of eating kashiwa mochi and chimaki.

Tanabata on July 7th is based on a Chinese-origin legend in which Orihime and Hikoboshi fulfill their tryst across the Milky Way once a year. People write wishes on tanzaku strips and hang them on bamboo grass. The Sendai Tanabata Festival is the largest-scale Tanabata festival, and the scenery of huge streamers swaying in the shopping street in front of the station becomes nationwide news every year.

August brings Obon, when ancestral spirits are welcomed. On the 13th, welcoming fires are burned to welcome the spirits, and on the 16th, sending-off fires send them back to the other world. Kyoto's Gozan Okuribi is known for the fantastical sight of huge "Dai" and "Myoho" characters, torii, and boat shapes burning on mountain slopes; Bon dances are held grandly by neighborhood associations everywhere. Tokushima Prefecture's Awa Odori is the largest-scale Bon dance nationally, gathering over 1 million spectators over four days.

Fireworks displays that color the summer night sky are a traditional event whose origin lies in the Edo-period river opening at Ryogoku. Currently, the nationally recognized "three great fireworks displays" are the Sumida River Fireworks Display (Tokyo), the Nagaoka Festival Grand Fireworks Display (Niigata), and the Omagari Fireworks (Akita). Nagaoka is famous for super-large fireworks like the proper three-shaku shell, with the meaning of war reconstruction and memorial; Omagari has the aspect of being a national competition for fireworks masters.

Japan's representative "three great festivals" are Kyoto's Gion Matsuri, Osaka's Tenjin Matsuri, and Tokyo's Kanda Matsuri. The Gion Matsuri is held over a full month from July 1st to 31st, and especially on the 17th and 24th, the "Yamahoko Junko" procession parades luxurious yamahoko floats through the city of Kyoto. These floats are designated as Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties of Japan and as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Tenjin Matsuri is the festival of Osaka Tenmangu Shrine, held on July 24th and 25th. The greatest highlight is the "Funatogyo" boat procession on the night of the 25th, in which a fleet of over a hundred vessels crosses the Okawa River while dedicatory fireworks color the sky. The Kanda Matsuri is held biennially (the main festival year) at Kanda Myojin, the tutelary shrine of Edo, and as Tokyo's largest parishioner festival, the sight of mikoshi parading through the office districts of Otemachi and Marunouchi is its specialty.

Across the country there are many festivals that emit individuality unique to their land. The Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is held from August 2nd to 7th, with huge warrior-doll lanterns ("nebuta") parading through the city, and the chant "Rasseraa" and the dance of jumpers ("haneto") envelop the town. Kishiwada's Danjiri Matsuri (Osaka) is known for the "yarimawashi" cornering at speed, in which danjiri floats run at full force, and is characterized by such intensity that casualties occur every year.

Apart from traditional festivals, from the 2010s a phenomenon emerged in which "Halloween" was spontaneously held around Shibuya's scramble intersection. Costumed young people gathered on a scale of hundreds of thousands, and the phenomenon — driven by aims for SNS-worthy moments — was even taken up by overseas media. On the other hand, problems of groping, property destruction, and trash became serious, and in 2023 Shibuya Ward officially called out "do not come to Shibuya during the Halloween period," and an ordinance prohibiting street drinking was enacted.