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Festival

Mamada no Jaga Maita

Before rice planting, children in Mamada parade huge painted serpents through town, chanting, then immerse them in a pond in a centuries-old rainmaking ritual.

5 May 2027Oyama · Tochigi

Temple

Daigo-ji Temple

Over 1,100-year-old Buddhist temple complex and head temple of the Daigo branch of Shingon Buddhism, centered on an ancient natural spring.

Kyoto

Illumination

ZEN NIGHT Tofukuji

Nighttime illumination event at a historic Kyoto temple featuring vibrant green maple leaves paired with original soundscape music designed to calm the mind.

29 May – 5 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetKyoto

Temple

Ishiyamadera

A Shingon Buddhist temple in Otsu, traditionally founded in 747, where Murasaki Shikibu is said to have begun The Tale of Genji, with National Treasure halls.

Otsu · Shiga

Festival

Aizen Festival

A 1,400-year-old temple festival honors a Buddhist deity associated with love and good fortune through public celebrations and sacred displays.

30 Jun – 2 Jul 2027Osaka

Temple

Iwayaji Temple

The forty-fifth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage, built against cliffs in the mountains of Ehime, where the mountain itself is the object of worship.

Kumakogen · Ehime

Festival

Abare Festival

Illuminated lanterns parade through coastal Ushitsu in a celebration rooted in legend, featuring frenzied rituals to honor spiritual protection from epidemics.

3–4 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetNoto · Ishikawa

Temple

Shiromineji Temple

Temple 81 of the Shikoku pilgrimage, on Mt Shiromine in Kagawa, where the exiled Emperor Sutoku was laid to rest after his death in 1164.

Sakaide · Kagawa

Festival

Shirahama Ama Festival

Every July at the tip of the Boso Peninsula, close to a hundred diving women in white carry burning torches into the dark sea beneath the Nojimazaki lighthouse.

18–19 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetMinamiboso · Chiba

Temple

Todai-ji

Established in 738, this Nara temple houses the largest bronze Buddha statue and serves as headquarters of the Kegon Buddhist school.

Nara

Temple

Shinshoji Zen Temple

A Rinzai Zen temple at Fukuyama with tea houses, moved historic halls, gardens, and one of the largest collections of Hakuin's Zen painting.

Fukuyama · Hiroshima

Temple

Osu Kannon

A Shingon temple in central Nagoya, moved here by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1612, whose Osu Bunko library holds a National Treasure manuscript of the Kojiki.

Nagoya · Aichi

Temple

Zenko-ji

Historic Buddhist temple over 1,400 years old welcoming all faiths, with an underground passage and a revered statue displayed every six years.

Nagano

Temple

Tofukuji Temple

Tofukuji is one of Kyoto's great Zen temples, celebrated for its sweeping maple valley and the modern garden surrounding the abbot's quarters.

Kyoto

Shrine

Kumano Taisha Shrine

One of three major Kumano shrines in Japan, Kumano Taisha was established in 806 and is known as the Ise Shrine of the North for its significance.

Nanyo · Yamagata

Temple

Nishiyama Koryuji

A mountain temple in Saijo, Ehime, founded in 642, reached by a long approach under maples, with a main hall that is an Important Cultural Property.

Saijo · Ehime

Mountain

Cherry Blossoms at Mount Yoshino

About thirty thousand cherry trees on a mountainside in Nara, planted over centuries as offerings, which come into flower from the foot upward over a month.

Yoshino · Nara

Museum

Miho Museum

A museum of 1997 in the mountains of Shiga, designed by I. M. Pei and mostly buried in the hillside, holding ancient art of the world alongside Japanese art.

Koka · Shiga

Festival

Mamada no Jaga Maita

Before rice planting, children in Mamada parade huge painted serpents through town, chanting, then immerse them in a pond in a centuries-old rainmaking ritual.

5 May 2027Oyama · Tochigi

Temple

Daigo-ji Temple

Over 1,100-year-old Buddhist temple complex and head temple of the Daigo branch of Shingon Buddhism, centered on an ancient natural spring.

Kyoto

Illumination

ZEN NIGHT Tofukuji

Nighttime illumination event at a historic Kyoto temple featuring vibrant green maple leaves paired with original soundscape music designed to calm the mind.

29 May – 5 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetKyoto

Temple

Ishiyamadera

A Shingon Buddhist temple in Otsu, traditionally founded in 747, where Murasaki Shikibu is said to have begun The Tale of Genji, with National Treasure halls.

Otsu · Shiga

Festival

Aizen Festival

A 1,400-year-old temple festival honors a Buddhist deity associated with love and good fortune through public celebrations and sacred displays.

30 Jun – 2 Jul 2027Osaka

Temple

Iwayaji Temple

The forty-fifth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage, built against cliffs in the mountains of Ehime, where the mountain itself is the object of worship.

Kumakogen · Ehime

Festival

Abare Festival

Illuminated lanterns parade through coastal Ushitsu in a celebration rooted in legend, featuring frenzied rituals to honor spiritual protection from epidemics.

3–4 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetNoto · Ishikawa

Temple

Shiromineji Temple

Temple 81 of the Shikoku pilgrimage, on Mt Shiromine in Kagawa, where the exiled Emperor Sutoku was laid to rest after his death in 1164.

Sakaide · Kagawa

Festival

Shirahama Ama Festival

Every July at the tip of the Boso Peninsula, close to a hundred diving women in white carry burning torches into the dark sea beneath the Nojimazaki lighthouse.

18–19 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetMinamiboso · Chiba

Temple

Todai-ji

Established in 738, this Nara temple houses the largest bronze Buddha statue and serves as headquarters of the Kegon Buddhist school.

Nara

Temple

Shinshoji Zen Temple

A Rinzai Zen temple at Fukuyama with tea houses, moved historic halls, gardens, and one of the largest collections of Hakuin's Zen painting.

Fukuyama · Hiroshima

Temple

Osu Kannon

A Shingon temple in central Nagoya, moved here by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1612, whose Osu Bunko library holds a National Treasure manuscript of the Kojiki.

Nagoya · Aichi

Temple

Zenko-ji

Historic Buddhist temple over 1,400 years old welcoming all faiths, with an underground passage and a revered statue displayed every six years.

Nagano

Temple

Tofukuji Temple

Tofukuji is one of Kyoto's great Zen temples, celebrated for its sweeping maple valley and the modern garden surrounding the abbot's quarters.

Kyoto

Shrine

Kumano Taisha Shrine

One of three major Kumano shrines in Japan, Kumano Taisha was established in 806 and is known as the Ise Shrine of the North for its significance.

Nanyo · Yamagata

Temple

Nishiyama Koryuji

A mountain temple in Saijo, Ehime, founded in 642, reached by a long approach under maples, with a main hall that is an Important Cultural Property.

Saijo · Ehime

Mountain

Cherry Blossoms at Mount Yoshino

About thirty thousand cherry trees on a mountainside in Nara, planted over centuries as offerings, which come into flower from the foot upward over a month.

Yoshino · Nara

Museum

Miho Museum

A museum of 1997 in the mountains of Shiga, designed by I. M. Pei and mostly buried in the hillside, holding ancient art of the world alongside Japanese art.

Koka · Shiga

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