Top 10 Events in Saitama Prefecture, Kanto

Celebrated for over 360 years, the Kawagoe Matsuri is a proud tradition celebrating the area's Edo culture. Held every 3rd weekend of October, brilliant, large-scale festival floats amass around the "old" part of town, where steeple-roofed temples, lively food stalls, and wide streets give off a historic charm. The floats, which crowd the area, are decorated with dolls and sets. The highlight of the festival is "Hikkawase", when these floats compete at "ohayashi", a type of dance accompanied by frenzied flues, handbells, and drums. The crowd joins in by hoisting up lanterns and chanting.

This summer fireworks festival is organized by local volunteers under the banner of bringing local culture to children and revitalizing the local region. Revolving around special multi-stage fireworks, some 5,000 blasts light up the sky. The seats are in close proximity to where the fireworks go up, so you can see the show in vivid detail. A special treat is the fireworks that are dedicated to various people. Pop-up shops serving local cuisine appear around the venue, and bon-odori dances and music shows take place in advance of the main event.

This fireworks festival is held each summer in Toda City in the southeastern region of Saitama Prefecture. Located upstream of the Toda Bridge along the Ara River that flows through the city, visitors will be able to enjoy a total of 12,000 fireworks when combined with the Itabashi Fireworks Festival that will be held at the same time on the opposite shore. One feature of the Todabashi Fireworks Festival is the closeness between the place where the fireworks will be set off and the viewing area, allowing visitors to experience the full scale and sound of the pyrotechnics. The combination of large fireworks and star mines makes for a compelling program, and the giant star mines that constitute the finale are especially impressive.

This festival is held every year from July 19th to 23rd and is the main festival of the Yasaka Shrine in Kumadani City. The festival originates from an old tradition whereby each household used to cook sekihan (red rice) to ward off illness and disease. This was called the Kumadani Sekihan Festival until later years when the use of uchiwa (paper fans) became popular and the event was renamed the Kumadani Uchiwa Festival. This tradition lives on today in the passing out of free paper fans from shrines and stores throughout the city. The boisterous event features 12 floats from each district along with musicians and taiko drummers who put on an exciting show.

This festival, which has a history of over 230 years dating back to 1783, is held by the Yakumo Shrine, which is the patron shrine of the former Kuki City. The highlight of the festival is the seven large traditional Japanese floats held by each district that carry musicians as well dolls representing the gods out of the old myths across the city during the day. At night, the dolls are taken off the floats in exchange for some 500 paper lanterns. The sight of the 7.5M tall floats festooned with lights and gathered in the Kuki Station West Gate Plaza where they are made to spin around and collide with each other is awe-inspiring and justifies the festival's reputation as the premiere lantern festival of the Kansai region.

This festival is held every year between late March and early April in Gogendo Park, which is located in northern Satte City, Saitama Prefecture. In spring the Yoshino cherry trees planted along a 1km long embankment in the park bloom all at once, creating a breathtaking tunnel of flower petals. The nighttime lighting of the cherry blossoms near Toge no Chaya are also unmissable viewing. The bright yellow of the rape blossoms that bloom along the embankment also make for a beautiful contrast. During the cherry blossom season, some 100 street stalls are set up alongside a variety of events including product fairs, haiku competitions, Japanese tea parties, and marathon races.

In Tamashiki Park, Kazo City, there is a large wisteria tree that is estimated to be about 400 years old, and it has been designated as a natural monument of the prefecture. About 30 wisteria trees make up five wisteria trellises, which bloom with stunning flowers from late April through early May. The flower cluster of the Great Wisteria is as large as 1m, and is spectacular. During the blooming period there are stage performances of taiko drumming and yosakoi, open-air tea ceremony and koto, children's shows and other events.

The Ogose Ume Matsuri is a festival held every year from late February to late March at a plum grove in the Iruma district of Saitama Prefecture. Ogose Plum Blossom Park is counted among the top three plum groves in the Kanto region (the other two are Mito Kairakuen and Atami Baien), and it is said to have originated from trees planted when the shrine dedicated to the soul of Sugawara no Michizane was moved from Dazaifu in Kyushu. Visitors can enjoy viewing more than 1,000 plum trees, with varieties such as red-blossomed kobai, white-blossomed shirakaga, and Ogose yabai, including ancient trees said to be more than 600 years old. There is also a miniature steam locomotive (1/10 scale model) that runs through the plum grove on a looping track 253 meters long (Please note that the days of operation are scheduled in advance). Folk entertainment events such as Japanese drum concerts and lion dances are also scheduled.

A fireworks festival that takes place around the Koshigaya Central Community Center and the banks of the Kasai Irrigation Channel. A rich variety of 5,000 complex fireworks are shot off in rapid succession, barely leaving you time to "ooh" or "aah." They are launched off from the center of the channel and can be viewed from either side. The fireworks also go off relatively close to the ground, so you can see them in dazzling detail. Lots of stalls plying various wares line the streets -- it's festival time!

The Gyoda Ukishiro Festival is a summer tradition among the residents of Gyoda city and is held annually during the last weekend of July. On Saturday, the eve of the festival, a concert stage and flea market are set up on the intersection in front of Gyoda Station. Sunday's boisterous festivities center around a Danbe dancing parade that moves through the city as well as competing taiko drummers riding atop traditional floats.