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Chugoku right now

Monday · 2026/11/02

USD ¥157.3
EUR ¥175.7
SGD ¥123
AUD ¥110.5

Festival · Yamaguchi · Chugoku

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.

Kudamatsu · 3 Nov 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 · Yamaguchi · Chugoku

Kurakake Castle Festival

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

Iwakuni · 16 Nov 2026

Area & Points of Interest · Shimane · Chugoku

Inasa-no-Hama

Beach on the Japan Sea west of Izumo Taisha, setting of the Kojiki myth of the land handover and the shore where the gods of Japan are welcomed each year.

Izumo

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

Sport & Competition

T-rex Race

Footraces run in inflatable T-rex costumes, held in parks, on beaches and at local festivals across Japan since 2022, with adult and juvenile classes.

22 Nov 2026Kasaoka · Okayama

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 hung with sacred paper stand on the beach as the community performs ceremonial dances twice a day for protection from illness and calamity.

11 Feb 2027Exact date not confirmed yetYanai · Yamaguchi

Festival

Saidai-ji Eyo Festival

An Okayama festival over 500 years old where men in loincloths compete for a wooden stick; the winner becomes the Lucky Man, believed blessed for a year.

21 Feb 2027Exact date not confirmed yetOkayama

Food Fair

Hinase Oyster Festival

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

22 Feb 2027Exact date not confirmed yetBizen · Okayama

Festival

Senteisai festival (Akama-jingu Shrine)

A shrine festival at Akama-jingu in Shimonoseki honoring Emperor Antoku with Shinto rituals, offerings and performances that mark the young emperor's death.

2–4 May 2027Exact date not confirmed yetShimonoseki · Yamaguchi

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

Festival

Kurashiki Tenryo Summer Festival

A renowned summer festival features over 3,500 participants in the Daikan Bayashi-Odori dance, decorated floats, and traditional performances.

25 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetKurashiki · Okayama

Festival

Tsuyama Gongo Festival

The Tsuyama Gongo Festival is a summer event in Tsuyama City with kappa-themed dances along Yakko-dori Street and one of Okayama's largest fireworks displays.

1–2 Aug 2027Exact date not confirmed yetTsuyama · Okayama

Quick poll

Amusement Park

Okayama Forest Park 'German Forest'

Okayama park themed as a German forest, with animal encounters, seasonal flower gardens, German food, go-karts, archery and craft workshops.

Akaiwa · Okayama

Area & Points of Interest

Tsunoshima Bridge

A 1,780-metre toll-free bridge from Shimonoseki to the island of Tsunoshima, crossing cobalt blue water and white sand on the north Yamaguchi coast.

Shimonoseki · Yamaguchi

Shrine

Itsukushima Shrine

The floating shrine of Miyajima, built out over a tidal cove, with its great vermilion torii standing in the sea off the sacred island.

Hatsukaichi · Hiroshima

Shrine

Mankusen Shrine

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

Izumo · Shimane

Area & Points of Interest

Inasa-no-Hama

Beach on the Japan Sea west of Izumo Taisha, setting of the Kojiki myth of the land handover and the shore where the gods of Japan are welcomed each year.

Izumo · Shimane

Shrine

Sada Shrine

Shrine near Matsue with three halls side by side, where the gods gather each November to remember Izanami, and home of the UNESCO-listed Sada Shinno dance.

Matsue · Shimane

Temple

Ryufukuji

Soto Zen temple in Yamaguchi on the former Ouchi clan residence site, with a Muromachi-period main hall that is an Important Cultural Property.

Yamaguchi

Shrine

Akama Shrine

Shinto shrine in Shimonoseki for the child Emperor Antoku, who died at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185, with a gate modelled on the Dragon God's sea palace.

Shimonoseki · Yamaguchi

Museum

Hayashibara Museum of Art

A private art museum beside Okayama Castle, built on businessman Hayashibara Ichiro's collection and the treasures of the Ikeda daimyo family.

Okayama

Castle

Hiroshima Castle

Castle built by Mori Terumoto from 1589 on the Ota River delta. Its keep, rebuilt after the 1945 atomic bombing, closed in 2026; the grounds stay open.

Hiroshima

Museum

Tottori Sand Museum

Museum of large sculptures made of sand by invited sculptors from around the world, on a new country or region for each exhibition, by the Tottori Sand Dunes.

Tottori

Onsen & Wellness

Tamatsukuri Onsen

A hot spring town on the Tamayu River, praised in the Nara-period Izumo Fudoki for water that beautifies the skin, and once a centre of magatama making.

Matsue · Shimane

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

Agoda9.4 ExceptionalHOTEL GRANVIA HIROSHIMA SOUTH GATEHotel · 4-star · Hiroshima

Agoda9.3 ExceptionalVIA INN Okayama - JR WEST GROUPHotel · 3-star · Okayama

Agoda9.3 ExceptionalUNO HOTELHotel · Okayama

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Chugoku right now

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