Yunishigawa Onsen Kamakura Festival

The Yunishigawa Onsen Kamakura Festival is a winter event at Yunishigawa Onsen, a hot spring village in the mountains of Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture. Its best-known sight is the riverbed at Sawaguchi, where hundreds of mini kamakura, small snow huts, each hold a burning candle.

Background

Yunishigawa Onsen has a history of more than 800 years and is known for its ties to the Heike clan: local legend holds that Heike survivors settled here after their defeat at the Battle of Dan-no-ura. The festival is listed as a Japan Night View Heritage site (Nihon Yakei Isan, 日本夜景遺産). In 2023 it was also named one of the Three Great Night Lights of Kanto (Kanto Sandai Yoakari, 関東三大夜灯) and one of the Seven Lights of Tochigi (Tochigi Shichito, 栃木七灯).

Highlights

The mini kamakura on the Sawaguchi riverbed are made by hand by local people every week of the festival. Each one is packed in a mold, shaped and hollowed out, and at lighting time the candles are lit one at a time.

Heike no Sato (平家の里), a site that recreates the life of the Heike settlers, takes part with small kamakura and a few large ones set among its snow-covered thatched houses, lit after dark. Heike Akari (平家あかり), a display of bamboo lanterns and bamboo balls inspired by the court life of the Heike in the Heian period, runs there at the same time. The Mizu no Sato Snow Park at the Yunishigawa Mizu no Sato offers sledding and other snow play, with a hot spring bath on site.

The 2027 edition

The announcement for the 2027 edition so far covers the lighting of the mini kamakura on the Sawaguchi riverbed. At the 2026 edition, Heike no Sato and the Mizu no Sato Snow Park also took part.