From March To May - Experience Japan's Spring Festivals And Events

Festivals and Events in May

Yabusame Shinji

Every year on May 3rd at Shimogamo Shrine in Sakyo, Kyoto, the Yabusame Shinji is held as a ritual before the Aoi Festival that takes place on May 15th. Yabusame is a sporting event wherein archers race horses down a 35 m wide track while shooting arrows from atop galloping horses at targets 100 m away. The sight of these archers as they perform this ritual is simply heroic. It is held from 13:00 to 15:30, and is free to the public.

Aoi Festival

Picture courtesy of JNTO

The Aoi Festival is one of Kyoto’s top three festivals along with the Gion Festival and the Jidai Festival. Nearly 500 people in elegant outfits, along with several horses, cows, and ox carriages, walk along the 8km long road which leads from the Kyoto Imperial Palace to Shimogamo Shrine and Kamigamo Shrine. The procession leaves the Kyoto Imperial Palace at 10:30 and arrives around 15:00 at Kamigamo Shrine. This festival is rescheduled in the event of rain to a later date.

See Gion Festival: the Largest Japanese Festival in Kyoto and Autumn Festivals in Japan for more on this incredible event.

Boys' Festival

May 5th is called Boys' Festival, and traditionally has celebrated the growth of boys. In 1948 this day was declared a national holiday and became widely known as Children’s Day.

Families with sons will place a koinobori outside their house. The koinobori is a decorative banner or kite based on the koi fish, or carp, which are supposed to be a symbol of success due to their vitality. In addition, there are customs such as bathing in a shobuyu, which is a bath with the medicinal herb sweet flag, in order to get rid of misfortune, as well as eating kashiwa-mochi, a Japanese sweet with sweet bean paste wrapped in an oak leaf. On this day, you can experience shobuyu in the city’s sento (*4), as well as buy kashiwa-mochi at convenience stores and supermarkets.

*4 Sento: a type of Japanese public bath, separated by gender into otokoyu (male) and onnayu (female) baths.

Kanda Festival

The Kanda Festival is a festival held over six days in mid-May at Kanda Myojin Shrine in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. It is said to be one of the top three Japanese festivals, alongside Yasaka Shrine’s Gion Festival in Kyoto and Tenmangu’s Tenjin Festival in Osaka.

As part of this celebration, the Shinko Festival is held on the Saturday closest to May 15th, entertaining crowds of spectators with an enormous procession featuring a splendid portable shrine making its way through the neighborhoods of Kanda, Nihonbashi and Marunouchi from morning to late afternoon.