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Wednesday · 2026/10/14

Festival · Okayama · Chugoku

Dogeza Festival

An October festival features a grand procession with a portable shrine led by samurai-clad participants, with local residents bowing in reverence along the streets.

Niimi · 15 Oct 2026

Shrine · Shimane · Chugoku

Mankusen Shrine

Mankusen Shrine in Izumo is said to be the last stop for the gods of Japan before they return home.

Izumo

Festival · Okayama · Chugoku

Bizen Pottery Festival

This pottery festival in Japan's Heritage-certified Bizen production area offers visitors the chance to buy ware and try their hand at the potter's wheel.

Bizen · 17–18 Oct 2026

Area & Points of Interest · Shimane · Chugoku

Inasa-no-Hama

Izumo

Weather

Yen

1 US Dollar¥158.2
1 Euro¥177
1 Singapore Dollar¥123.6
1 Australian Dollar¥110.4

Reference rates · 2026/10/13

Quick poll

Festival

Dogeza Festival

An October festival features a grand procession with a portable shrine led by samurai-clad participants, with local residents bowing in reverence along the streets.

15 Oct 2026Niimi · Okayama

Festival

Bizen Pottery Festival

This pottery festival in Japan's Heritage-certified Bizen production area offers visitors the chance to buy ware and try their hand at the potter's wheel.

17–18 Oct 2026Bizen · Okayama

Festival

Ube Festival

The largest festival of Ube in Yamaguchi, built on the Nanban Ondo, a dance that came out of the coal mines, with parades and a float drawn at the end.

1 Nov 2026Ube · Yamaguchi

Festival

Fox's Wedding - Rice Ear Festival

The Fox's Wedding features a grand procession with white fox bride and groom, rooted in a legend of benevolent spirits said to bring marriage blessings.

3 Nov 2026Kudamatsu · Yamaguchi

Festival

Kurakake Castle Festival

A castle festival features an armored warrior procession, parades, and traditional performances including taiko drumming and Shinto kagura dance.

16 Nov 2026Iwakuni · Yamaguchi

Festival

Kamiari Festival

Once a year the gods of Japan are said to abandon their shrines for Izumo, where a season of quiet rites welcomes, hosts, and finally sends them home again.

18–25 Nov 2026Izumo · Shimane

Festival

Hofu Tenmangu Gojinko-sai Festival (Naked Monk Festival)

This festival honors Tenjin, a tenth-century poet and administrator deified for his integrity, through a ritual dating back over a thousand years.

28 Nov 2026Hofu · Yamaguchi

Festival

Atsukishinmei Festival

Fire-lit pillars adorned with sacred paper stand on beaches as the community performs ceremonial dances twice daily, seeking protection from illness and calamity.

11 Feb 2027 · Dates not yet confirmedYanai · Yamaguchi

Festival

Saidai-ji Eyo Festival

At this over 500-year-old Okayama festival, men in loincloths compete for a wooden stick, with the victor becoming the 'Lucky Man' and receiving believed year-long blessings.

21 Feb 2027 · Dates not yet confirmedOkayama

Food Fair

Hinase Oyster Festival

A mid-February festival celebrates Hinase's oyster harvest with fresh seafood, barbecue areas, and regional specialties.

22 Feb 2027 · Dates not yet confirmedBizen · Okayama

Festival

Senteisai festival (Akama-jingu Shrine)

A shrine festival in Shimonoseki honors Emperor Antoku through traditional Shinto rituals, offerings, and cultural performances commemorating the young ruler's tragic death.

2–4 May 2027 · Dates not yet confirmedYamaguchi

Festival

Shinkawa Market Festival

This downtown festival features food and craft stalls, agricultural products, and family activities rooted in Ube City's late 18th-century market traditions.

5 May 2027Ube · Yamaguchi

Shrine

Iminomiya Shrine

Western Japan's oldest shrine with an 1,800-year legacy, built where Emperor Chuai's palace stood and his spirit was enshrined by Empress Jingu.

Shimonoseki · Yamaguchi

Historic Site

Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine

Japan's largest silver mine, Iwami Ginzan operated from 1526 to 1923 and produced one-third of the world's silver at its peak, achieving UNESCO World Heritage status in 2007.

Oda · Shimane

Museum

Nakahara Chuya Memorial Museum

Museum honoring the poet Nakahara Chuya with permanent and rotating exhibitions exploring different aspects of his literary legacy.

Yamaguchi

Shrine

Toyosaka Shrine

Yamaguchi shrine dedicated to Mori Motonari, the Sengoku-period warlord who unified the Chugoku region and established the powerful Mori clan.

Yamaguchi

Castle

Matsue Castle

Original wooden fortress built 1607-1611, one of Japan's few surviving castles and one of the Three Great Lake Castles in its architectural category.

Matsue · Shimane

Shrine

Hofu Tenmangu

Established in 904, this shrine honors Tenjin, the deified scholar and poet Sugawara no Michizane, whose unique single-building design houses all major sanctuaries.

Hofu · Yamaguchi

Temple

Saijo Inari

Saijo Inari is a 1,200-year-old Buddhist temple and one of Japan's three great Inari sites, preserving a rare form of Shinto-Buddhist syncretic worship.

Okayama

Shrine

Bitchukoku Soja Shrine

Bitchukoku Soja Shrine consolidated deities of 324 provincial shrines into a single site dedicated to the deity of nation-building and good fortune.

Soja · Okayama

Shrine

Kibitsu Jinja

Major Okayama shrine dedicated to Kibitsuhiko-no-Mikoto, a legendary prince credited with defeating an ogre and bringing peace to the region, foundations of the Momotaro folktale.

Okayama

Shrine

Yuga Shrine

Sacred mountain shrine in Okayama with more than two thousand years of history, blending Shinto and Buddhist practices as a centre of pilgrimage.

Kurashiki · Okayama

Park & Garden

Okayama Koraku-en

One of Japan's three most beautiful gardens, featuring a central pond with islands and bridges, tea house, and abundant cherry blossoms in spring.

Okayama

Religious Site

Yamaguchi Xavier Memorial Church

A church erected in 1952 commemorating Francisco Xavier's 1550 arrival in Yamaguchi, housing a Christian museum documenting the history of missionary work in Japan.

Yamaguchi

Performance

Iwami Kagura

Each autumn in western Shimane, shrine stages host Iwami Kagura – sacred dances performed through the night, from ceremonial pieces to a battle with a serpent.

Shimane · Chugoku

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