Spring Festivals in Japan and Where to See Them

Spring is a season of new beginnings and rejuvenation — a time to say goodbye to cold and dreary winter days, waving hello to warm sunny days. Accordingly, many of Japan’s spring festivals are celebrations of life and the return of nature’s colors. Here, we list the four main types of spring festivals in Japan, and we recommend some of the best places to catch the festivities.

Although early March in Japan is still a bit chilly, ushering in spring is Hina Matsuri, also known as Girls’ Day or the Hina Doll Festival. Traditionally, this festival was held on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar — considered an auspicious day — but ever since Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar, this celebration is held annually on March 3.

Celebrating young girls and conveying families’ wishes for their daughters’ health and happiness, Hina Matsuri is usually observed by displaying a tiered set of ornately dressed dolls representing a Heian-period Imperial Court, with the Emperor and Empress occupying the highest tier and attendants, musicians, ministers, and more below them.

Known as hina ningyo in Japanese, these dolls tend to be precious heirlooms handed down from one generation to another. As they're often quite expensive if bought brand-new, some families nowadays might just get the Emperor and Empress dolls; meanwhile, wealthy families might have a five- to seven-tiered hinadan stand displaying numerous dolls, with each generation adding new dolls to the display.

Other Hina Matsuri traditions include eating certain colorful foods, many of which have something pink: peaches, rice crackers called hina-arare, chirashi-zushi (literally “scattered sushi”, a serving of vinegared rice topped with a variety of ingredients), or sakuramochi (a cherry blossom-inspired pink rice cake).

Some parts of Japan may also have their own unique ways of celebrating Hina Matsuri, such as nagashi-bina — the practice of sending paper or straw dolls afloat down a river — or displaying tsurushi-bina, strings of miniature cloth dolls and other auspicious symbols.  

While some accommodations put on Hina Matsuri displays for guests to enjoy, how about traveling to the quiet coastal town of Katsuura in Chiba for the Katsuura Big Doll Festival?

One of Japan’s largest Hina Matsuri celebrations, this festival sees thousands of hina dolls — at one point even reaching 30,000 — displayed all around town for around two weeks from late February to March 3. The most recent iteration of this festival saw a total of 7,000 dolls on display, which is already an impressive feat!

The best-known sight from this festival is the display at Tomisaki-jinja Shrine. For the duration of the festival, the shrine’s 60 stone steps are transformed into a massive hinadan adorned with roughly 1,800 dolls.

As Japan’s most famous springtime sight, sakura (cherry blossoms) hardly need any introduction. Japan’s dainty sakura have captured the hearts of people worldwide, with many travelers (or aspiring travelers) adding a trip to Japan during the blooming season to their bucket list. Check out our Japan Cherry Blossom Viewing Guide For First-time Visitors.

Cherry blossoms and the festivals dedicated to them are such serious business in Japan that weather-reporting services release regularly updated cherry blossom forecasts for people to plan their hanami (cherry blossom-viewing) parties!

And for an additional fun fact, Japan has numerous types of cherry blossoms, the most iconic being the “standard” Somei-yoshino variant — the one commonly seen and depicted in photos, videos, and art.

Though the dates vary annually depending on when the cherry blossoms are expected to reach full bloom, sakura festivals are generally held from late March to early April in most of Japan. The exceptions are Okinawa — where the sakura are of a different variant and bloom as early as late January — and the Hokkaido and Tohoku regions up north, which don’t see sakura blooming until late April or May.

If the dates of your Japan trip don’t line up with the “main” cherry blossom season, which is usually based on the bloom forecast for the Somei-yoshino cherries, take heart! Aside from the hikan-zakura cherry tree that blooms in Okinawa, there are also other early-blooming cherry blossoms such as kawazu-zakura, which you can catch in February in locations such as Kawazu — the town in Shizuoka where they were originally found — and even Tokyo. Several late-blooming cherry trees can be found across Japan as well.

There are too many breathtakingly gorgeous sakura festivals all over Japan to list here, to the point that each area in Japan has its own list of top local cherry blossom-viewing spots. However, among the best of the best are Nara’s Mount Yoshino Sakura Festival and Aomori’s Hirosaki Sakura Festival.

Occurring from late March to mid-April, the former sees Mount Yoshino covered in pink thanks to over 30,000 cherry trees; the latter, held from late April to early May, is known for the sight of fallen cherry blossom petals blanketing the moats of Hirosaki Castle Park in pink.

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Beautiful as the sakura may be, it’s not the only spring flower that’s beloved in Japan! Others such as fuji (wisteria), tsutsuji (azalea), shiba-zakura (moss phlox), peach blossom, and nemophila get their share of adoration, and their festivals are just as worth checking out.

Blooming in late February, which is still a winter month in Japan, the ume (plum) blossoms herald the coming of spring. Meanwhile, other flowers such as those mentioned above usually bloom in April or May.

Several of Japan’s top spring flower festivals are located in or near Tokyo, including the Bunkyo Azalea Festival at Tokyo’s Nezu-jinja Shrine, Ashikaga Flower Park’s Great Wisteria Festival in Tochigi, and the Fuji Shibazakura Festival in Yamanashi. These tend to start in early or mid-April and last until early or late May.

Those based in Tokyo can spend an entire day hopping from one location to another to admire the spring blossoms. For extra convenience, some travel agencies even offer day tours revolving around flower festivals!

But the Kanto region, which the above-mentioned prefectures are part of, isn’t the only part of Japan that boasts photogenic spring flower festivals! The city of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka, for example, is home to Kawachi Fujien Wisteria Garden, whose claim to fame is a tunnel draped with pastel-colored wisteria from late April to early May.

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Shiba-zakura

Wisteria

Tulips

Traditionally, the counterpart to Hina Matsuri (Girls’ Day) was Boys’ Day on May 5, but in contemporary times, this day is now known as Children’s Day, a public holiday devoted to wishing for the health, happiness, and good future of all children. (Some might still celebrate Children’s Day as Boys’ Day, though!)

The main tradition in observation of Children’s Day is the display of koinobori, colorful tube-like streamers designed to resemble carps. Why carps, you ask? Koi (carps) are an auspicious symbol with many positive meanings in Japanese culture. In this particular context, they signify strength and perseverance, as legend has it that if a carp can successfully swim upstream, leaping over a waterfall, it will transform into a dragon.

Among the many koinobori festivals across Japan, two that stand out are the Tsuetate Onsen Koinobori Festival in Kumamoto and the Koinobori Festa 1000 in Osaka. Held from April 1 to May 6 annually, the former sees thousands of koinobori suspended mid-air over a pristine river that flows through a quaint hot spring town. Meanwhile, as the name implies, the latter involves thousands of koinobori strung above the Akuta River in Takatsuki, a laid-back town worthy of a day trip from Osaka’s city center.

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