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JAPAN
Public
Holidays
JANUARY
Ganjitsu (or Gantan ): January 1. On the first day of the year everyone
heads for the shrines to pray for good fortune (national holiday).
Yamayaki : January 15. The slopes of Wakakasu-yama, Nara, are set
alight during a grass-burning ceremony.
Seijin-no-hi (Adults' Day): second Monday in January. Twenty-year-olds
celebrate their entry into adulthood by visiting their local shrine.
Many women dress in sumptuous kimono (national holiday).
FEBRUARY
Setsubun : February 3 or 4. On the last day of winter (by the lunar
calendar), people scatter lucky beans round their homes and at shrines
or temples to drive out evil and welcome in the year's good luck.
Yuki Matsuri : February 5-11. Sapporo's famous snow festival features
giant snow sculptures.
National Foundation Day : February 11 (national holiday).
MARCH
Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival): March 3. Families with young girls
display sets of fifteen dolls ( hina ningyo ) representing the Emperor,
Empress and their courtiers dressed in ancient costume. Department
stores, hotels and museums put on special exhibitions of antique
dolls.
Spring Equinox : March 20 or 21 (national holiday).
Cherry-Blossom festivals : late March to early May. With the arrival
of spring in late March, a pink tide of cherry blossom washes north
from Kyushu, travels up Honshu during the month of April and peters
out in Hokkaido in early May. There are cherry-blossom festivals,
and the sake flows at blossom-viewing parties. Though every area
has its own favoured cherry-blossom spots, the most celebrated are
the mountains around Yoshino (near Kyoto), Tokyo's Ueno Koen and
Hirosaki on the tip of northern Honshu.
APRIL
Hana Matsuri : April 8. Buddha's birthday is celebrated at all temples
with parades, and a small statue of Buddha is sprinkled with sweet
tea.
Takayama Matsuri : April 14-15. Parade of ornate festival floats
( yatai ), some with acrobatic marionettes.
Greenery Day : April 29 (national holiday).
MAY
Constitution Memorial Day : May 3 (national holiday).
Kokumin no Shukujitsu : May 4 (national holiday).
Kodomo-no-hi (Children's Day): May 5. The original Boys' Day now
includes all children as families fly carp banners, symbolizing
strength and perseverance, outside their homes (national holiday).
Aoi Matsuri (Hollyhock Festival): May 15. Costume parade through
the streets of Kyoto, with ceremonies to ward off storms and earthquakes.
Tosho-gu Grand Matsuri : May 17. Nikko's most important festival,
featuring a parade of over 1000 costumed participants and horseback
archery to commemorate the burial of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1617.
Smaller-scale repeat performance on October 17.
Sanja Matsuri : Around May 18. Tokyo's biggest festival takes place
in Asakusa. Over 100 mikoshi are jostled through the streets, accompanied
by lion dancers, geisha and musicians.
JULY
Hakata Yamagasa : July 1-15. Fukuoka's main festival culminates
in a five-kilometre race carrying or pulling heavy mikoshi , while
spectators douse them with water.
Tanabata Matsuri (Star Festival): July 7. According to legend, the
only day in the year when the astral lovers, Vega and Altair, can
meet across the Milky Way. Poems and prayers are hung on bamboo
poles outside houses.
Gion Matsuri : July 17. Kyoto's month-long festival focuses around
a parade of huge floats hung with rich silks and paper lanterns.
Marine Day : July 20 (national holiday).
Hanabi Taikai : last Saturday in July. The most spectacular of the
many summer firework displays takes place in Tokyo, on the Sumida
River near Asakusa.
AUGUST
Nebuta and Neputa Matsuri : August 1-7. Aomori and Hirosaki hold
competing summer festivals, with parades of illuminated paper-covered
figures, like huge lanterns.
Tanabata Matsuri : August 6-8. Sendai holds its famous Star Festival
a month after everyone else, so the lovers get another chance.
Obon (Festival of Souls): August 13-15, or July 13-15 in some areas.
Families gather around the ancestral graves to welcome back the
spirits of the dead and honour them with special Bon-odori dances
on the final night.
Awa Odori : August 12-15. The most famous Bon odori takes place
in Tokushima, when up to 80,000 dancers take to the streets.
SEPTEMBER
Respect-for-the-Aged Day : September 15 (national holiday).
Autumn Equinox : September 23 or 24 (national holiday).
OCTOBER
Okunchi Matsuri : October 7-9. Shinto rites mingle with Chinese-
and European-inspired festivities to create Nagasaki's premier celebration,
incorporating dragon dances and floats in the shape of Chinese and
Dutch ships.
Sports Day : second Monday in October (national holiday).
Kawagoe's Grand Matsuri . October 14 and 15. One of the most lively
festivals in the Tokyo area, involving some 25 ornate floats and
hundreds of costumed revellers.
Jidai Matsuri : October 22. Kyoto's famous, if rather sedate, costume
parade vies with the more exciting Kurama Matsuri , a night-time
fire festival which takes place in a village near Kyoto.
NOVEMBER
Culture Day : November 3 (national holiday).
Shichi-go-san (Seven-five-three): November 15. Children of the appropriate
ages don mini-kimono and hakama (loose trousers) to visit their
local shrine.
Labour Thanksgiving Day : November 23 (national holiday).
DECEMBER
Emperor's Birthday : December 23 (national holiday).
Omisoka : December 31. Just before midnight on the last day of the
year, temple bells ring out 108 times to cast out each of man's
earthly desires and start the year afresh.
Note:
if any of the above national holidays fall on a Sunday, then the
following Monday is also a holiday. |
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