Shinto in Japan | Hey Japan!

Shinto is an indigenous religion of Japan and the country's oldest religion, originating from prehistoric times. It is characterized by its focus on ancestor worship, nature worship, and the veneration of spirits known as kami. Shinto shrines, which are dedicated to the worship of kami, are scattered throughout Japan and are typically marked by a torii gate and other distinctive architectural features. Shinto has no written scripture, no formal creed, and no defined system of morality. Instead, its teachings and practices are passed down orally and through tradition.

Festival

Katakai Matsuri

The autumn festival of Asahara Shrine at Ojiya in Niigata, where the fireworks are offerings and include the four-shaku shell, said to be the world's largest.

11–12 Sep 2026Niigata · Chubu

Festival

Hanamaki Festival

This centuries-old festival features over 100 mikoshi shrines and floats, with the Shishi-Odori deer dance and sacred Kagura-Gongenmai performance.

11–13 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Kaikai Yokai Festival

Toei Kyoto Studio Park brings Japanese yokai legends to life with parades, interactive dance experiences, workshops, and exhibitions celebrating supernatural folklore.

Shinto is an indigenous religion of Japan and the country's oldest religion, originating from prehistoric times. It is characterized by its focus on ancestor worship, nature worship, and the veneration of spirits known as kami. Shinto shrines, which are dedicated to the worship of kami, are scattered throughout Japan and are typically marked by a torii gate and other distinctive architectural features. Shinto has no written scripture, no formal creed, and no defined system of morality. Instead, its teachings and practices are passed down orally and through tradition.

Festival

Katakai Matsuri

The autumn festival of Asahara Shrine at Ojiya in Niigata, where the fireworks are offerings and include the four-shaku shell, said to be the world's largest.

11–12 Sep 2026Niigata · Chubu

Festival

Hanamaki Festival

This centuries-old festival features over 100 mikoshi shrines and floats, with the Shishi-Odori deer dance and sacred Kagura-Gongenmai performance.

11–13 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Kaikai Yokai Festival

Toei Kyoto Studio Park brings Japanese yokai legends to life with parades, interactive dance experiences, workshops, and exhibitions celebrating supernatural folklore.

12 Sep – 29 Nov 2026

Kyoto · Kansai

Festival

Morioka Fall Festival

One of Iwate's most enduring celebrations, this autumn festival originated as prayers for harvest, now featuring ornate floats and traditional parades.

14–16 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Kuji Autumn Festival

This over 650-year-old festival in a northern mountain town expresses gratitude for the harvest while praying for protection from disaster and the arrival of good fortune.

17–20 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Kishiwada Danjiri Festival

One of Japan's most dynamic float festivals with a 300-year history, known for its signature yarimawashi maneuver where massive floats are swung around corners.

18–20 Sep 2026Osaka · Kansai

Festival

Ishioka Festival

Around thirty lion carts and twelve tiered floats fill central Ishioka for three days each September, at one of the three great festivals of the Kanto region.

19–21 Sep 2026Ibaraki · Kanto

Festival

Kanazawa Jazz Street

One of Japan's largest jazz events transforms Kanazawa's historic streets, shrines, and public spaces into stages for world-class musicians each September.

19–21 Sep 2026Ishikawa · Chubu

Festival

Okuma Kabuto Festival

Nanao's festival honors samurai heritage through a dramatic parade of locals dressed in full armor and helmets, accompanied by traditional music and dance performances.

20 Sep 2026Ishikawa · Chubu

Festival

Johana Mugiya Festival

The Johana Mugiya Festival celebrates Mugiya-bushi, a historic folk song and dance rooted in Gokayama's rural heritage, with costumed dancers and traditional instruments.

20 Sep 2026Toyama · Chubu

Festival

Ohara Hadaka Festival

The 'Naked Festival' features mikoshi carried into the sea, a boisterous parade through town, and shrines tossed high against fireworks and songs of joy.

23–24 Sep 2026Chiba · Kanto

Festival

Gokayama Mugiya Festival

The Gokayama Mugiya Festival features Mugiya-bushi, a folk song and dance tradition rooted in the Heike clan, designated as Japan's Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

23 Sep 2026Toyama · Chubu

Festival

Gokayama Kokiriko Festival

Streets fill with folk songs, dances, and lion performances, culminating in a communal circle dance accompanied by the rhythmic playing of a bamboo whisk instrument.

25–26 Sep 2026Toyama · Chubu

Festival

Benkei Matsuri

Tanabe in Wakayama holds a two-day festival for Benkei, the warrior monk it claims as its own, with a play at the shrine and 600 dancers in wooden clogs.

2–3 Oct 2026Wakayama · Kansai

Festival

Gobo Festival

Each October in Gobo, Wakayama, the region's largest autumn festival fills the streets with rival parish groups, dance, and towering, massive drum floats.

4–5 Oct 2026Wakayama · Kansai

Festival

Matsuyama Dogo Autumn Festival

Ancient shrine festival featuring portable shrines carried through Matsuyama's districts in ritual performances believed to enhance spiritual power.

5–7 Oct 2026Ehime · Shikoku

Festival

Nagasaki Kunchi / Okunchi

This 380-year-old shrine festival blends Japanese folk dances with dragon processions and Dutch-influenced performances held across four venues in Nagasaki.

7–9 Oct 2026Nagasaki · Kyushu

Festival

Sakura Autumn Festival

Each October the old castle town of Sakura fills with towering doll floats, portable shrines and Edo-descended music for three days of procession.

9–11 Oct 2026Chiba · Kanto

Mountain

Mt. Gassan

The highest of the three mountains of Dewa in Yamagata, sacred to the moon god, with a shrine at the summit that opens only in high summer.

Tsuruoka · Yamagata

Mountain

Mt. Haguro

The lowest of the three mountains of Dewa in Yamagata, climbed by a stone stair through old cedars, with a five-storey pagoda that is a National Treasure.

Tsuruoka · Yamagata

Religious Site

Meoto Iwa

Two rocks off the shore at Futami in Mie, joined by a rope of rice straw, standing as a gateway to a sacred rock out in the sea.

Ise · Mie

Shrine

Shirahige Shrine

A shrine on the western shore of Lake Biwa with a torii standing in the water, dedicated to Sarutahiko and known as a shrine of long life.

Takashima · Shiga

Shrine

Yuge Shrine

A shrine on Yuge Island in the Inland Sea, founded by a branch of the Mononobe clan to their ancestor, with a pine grove and a shallow beach below it.

Kamijima · Ehime

Shrine

Suwa Shrine

The tutelary shrine of Nagasaki, re-established in 1625 after the city had been church land, and home of the Kunchi festival.

Nagasaki

Shrine

Kunikatanushi Shrine

A shrine at the centre of the island of Iki, founded in 811, to the small god Sukunahikona and to Sugawara no Michizane.

Iki · Nagasaki

Shrine

Usa Shrine

The head shrine of the forty thousand Hachiman shrines, founded at Usa in 725, with three halls that are a National Treasure.

Usa · Oita

Shrine

Amano Iwato Shrine

A shrine at Takachiho that worships the cave where the sun goddess is said to have hidden, leaving the world in darkness.

Miyazaki

Area & Points of Interest

Takachihogawara

A sacred highland at 970 meters on Mount Kirishima's slopes, legendary in Japanese mythology as where the heavenly grandchild descended to rule.

Kirishima · Kagoshima

Shrine

Kirishima Shrine

A shrine below the peak of Takachiho in Kagoshima, its vermilion halls of 1715 made a National Treasure in 2022.

Kirishima · Kagoshima

Shrine

Udo Jingu

A shrine on the coast of Miyazaki whose vermilion hall stands inside a sea cave, with a rock said to have nursed the god born there.

Nichinan · Miyazaki

Shrine

Hinomisaki Shrine

Two shrines on one site at the western tip of the Shimane Peninsula, rebuilt in the 1630s and holding a National Treasure suit of armour.

Izumo · Shimane

Shrine

Sada Shrine

Sada Shrine near Matsue: a rare sanctuary of three halls side by side, the gods gathering each November to remember Izanami, and the UNESCO-listed Sada Shinno dance.

Matsue · Shimane

Area & Points of Interest

Inasa-no-Hama

Izumo · Shimane

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

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

Shrine

Uto Shrine

Guardian shrine of Aomori dedicated to the Three Goddesses of Munakata, featuring grounds with a sacred spring and historic remains including haiku stones by Matsuo Basho.

Aomori

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