What to do and see in Kyoto Prefecture, Kinki: The Best Cultural Events

July 26, 2021 Kelli Reichel

Kyoto Prefecture (京都府, Kyōto-fu) is a prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Kyoto.
Restaurants in Kyoto Prefecture

1. Kyoto Arashiyama Hanatouro

Tabuchiyamacho, Saga Ogurayama, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto 616-8393 Kyoto Prefecture http://www.hanatouro.jp/arashiyama/
Excellent
55%
Good
40%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 53 reviews

Kyoto Arashiyama Hanatouro

The Arashiyama Hanatouro "light up" is a visually stunning festival held in the chill of December. Spotlights and lanterns are set out to illuminate Arashiyama's Togetsukyo Bridge, and the foothills of the surrounding mountains. The enchanted glow is especially dreamy at the local temples and in the bamboo forest, where pathways lined with tall, looming stalks of bamboo are highlighted in an orange haze. The town celebrates by staying open late, and many stores sell local food and goods to visitors.

Reviewed By NormadicLife

The place a fantastic! The tree forest view is so beautiful and serene to walk in. Despite the autumn heat to journey there, there is no regret arriving at the location. Should have taken the bus from Kyoto there instead of taking the train service - the bus takes you to the entrance of the Arashiyama bamboo forest. We went dressed up in traditional samurai costume that made it even more memorable and the food is just simply delicious. Just ignore the tourist crowd from mainland China, who do not seemed to respect Arashiyama. Take your own time there and expect to spend a day there immersing yourself in the peaceful surrounding and having meals there.

2. Gion Matsuri

625 Giommachi Kitagawa, Higashiyama-Ku, Kyoto 604-8223 Kyoto Prefecture http://www.yasaka-jinja.or.jp/event/gion.html
Excellent
63%
Good
31%
Satisfactory
5%
Poor
1%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 184 reviews

Gion Matsuri

The Gion Matsuri is Japan's most famous festival, with its origins reaching back all the way to 869. Spanning the whole month of July, it is studded with benchmark events. The most breathtaking of these is the Yamaboko Junko on July 17th, which sees a procession of 80-foot tall wheeled floats paraded throughout the city. The event is repeated on a smaller scale on the 24th. Yoiyama evening celebrations leading up to the parade close off the main streets to automotive traffic and fill them instead with food, drink, and game stalls. Visitors earlier in the month are welcome to watch the massive floats being assembled by hand for the celebration.

3. Higashiyama Hanatouro

99-1 Sueyoshicho, Yasakashinchi, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto 605-0085 Kyoto Prefecture +81 75-212-8173 http://www.hanatouro.jp/
Excellent
52%
Good
39%
Satisfactory
10%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 31 reviews

Higashiyama Hanatouro

Higashiyama Hanatouro is one of Kyoto's most anticipated and celebrated local festivals. Over 2,500 bamboo lanterns light the walking path leading to the foothills of beautiful Higashiyama Mountain by nightfall, illuminating the pathways, temples, and parkland in their wake. Visitors carry flowers and paper lanterns, a stroll leisurely, taking in the enchanting glow, and large, fantastical displays of ikebana flowers are specially constructed to delight viewers. Special events take place throughout, with evenings featuring geisha dancing at the local temples, and school children playing drums and singing songs. The illumination takes place nightly during the festival, between 6:00-9:30pm.

4. Kyoto Gozan no Okuribi

Jodoji Nanamawaricho, Kyoto 606-0000 Kyoto Prefecture https://www.kyokanko.or.jp/okuribi/
Excellent
54%
Good
35%
Satisfactory
12%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 26 reviews

Kyoto Gozan no Okuribi

Called Daimonji by locals, the Gozan no Okuribi celebrates the end of the August Obon festival. Five massive bonfires alight around the outskirts of the city, each pyre built upon a separate mountain face. Their burning represents the return of ancestral spirits, thought to visit their families during the Obon, back to the afterlife-- like smoke rising. The bonfires are each distinctive, one in the shape of the character for 'great', another in the shape of a shrine gate, yet another taking the form of a boat. They burn brightly and can be spotted from miles away.

5. Kyoto Sakura Yosakoi

Kyoto Kyoto Prefecture http://ja-jp.facebook.com/sakuyosa/
Excellent
37%
Good
52%
Satisfactory
11%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 27 reviews

Kyoto Sakura Yosakoi

Popularly known as "Sakuyosa," the "Kyoto Sakura Yosakoi" is a festival created mainly by the students of Kyoto. Since it started in 2005 the number of participants has grown, and it is now the largest yosakoi festival in Kansai. At venues that include the famous sightseeing parks, shrines and temples across the city, more than 150 teams each perform their own interpretive style of the yosakoi dance. There are also many ways for viewers to enjoy the festival, such as a yosakoi experience, the "1-hour So-odori" when the dancers and audience members become one, photo contests, stamp rallies, and the sale of original goods.

6. Okera Sai

625 Gionmachi Kitagawa, Higashiyama-ku Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto 605-0073 Kyoto Prefecture http://www.yasaka-jinja.or.jp/event/okera.html
Excellent
37%
Good
53%
Satisfactory
11%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 19 reviews

Okera Sai

"Okera-sai" is a ritual that takes place early in the morning on New Year's Day at Yasaka Shrine in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto. On the night of New Year's Eve, the holy flame lit on December 28th in accordance with an ancient rite is taken from the main shrine building and used to light the "Okera Lanterns" set up within the grounds of the shrine. This flame is transferred to a match cord made of bamboo and, twirling it round and round to keep the flame from going out, it is taken home, and this is known as "okera-mairi." Once taken home the flame is used to light the family altar and to start cooking the zoni (traditional dishes) eaten to celebrate the New Year. The remaining match cord is hung in the kitchen as protection from fire. In the "okerasai" ritual that takes place from 5am on New Year's Day, okera medicinal herbs (Atractylodes rhizome) mixed with kezurikake (decorative reed-shaped twigs) are set alight to ward off evil spirits and thrown onto the paving stones in front of the main shrine building. In this traditional Kyoto event, we pray for peace during the coming year.

7. Jodoehoyo to Daikodaki

Shichihommatsudori Imadegawa Agaru, Kamigyo-Ku Daihoon-ji Temple, Kyoto 602-8319 Kyoto Prefecture +81 75-461-5973 http://www.daihoonji.com/
Excellent
50%
Good
50%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 2 reviews

Jodoehoyo to Daikodaki

8. Aoi Matsuri

Kamigyo-ku Kyoto Gyoen, Kyoto 602-0881 Kyoto Prefecture +81 75-213-1717 http://www.kyoto-kankou.or.jp/sp/info_search/?event_id=2250&r=1579221752.6715
Excellent
38%
Good
47%
Satisfactory
14%
Poor
1%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 79 reviews

Aoi Matsuri

The Aoi Matsuri, or Hollyhock Festival, is a celebration of piety and purification from Japan's ancient history, still carried out at Kyoto's Kamo shrines today. The main event is a morning procession of oxcarts, cows, horses, and six-hundred people dressed in traditional Heian-era clothing holding hollyhock leaves, led by an Imperial Messenger. The troupe, which also includes a saio-dai maiden in twelve layers of silk robe whose role it is to praise the shrine deities, make a pilgrimage from Kyoto Imperial Palace to the Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines, where old rituals are performed. Horse races and archery competitions are also held in honor of the festivities.

9. Twinkle Joyo

Terada Okawara Joyo City Sports Park, Joyo Kyoto Prefecture http://xn--6oqz6c35b6zh48ipn2e0ys.jp/irumi/2018/index1.html
Excellent
20%
Good
80%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
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Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 5 reviews

An event held in December in Joyo City Sports Park, with the venue decorated by an illumination of about 600,000 bulbs. You can enjoy such fantastic sights as the as the 10m-high symbol tree and the 60m-long tunnel of light. During the event there is a sales corner selling local products and warm food and drink, and also original event goods are on sale. There are also music events and street performers, creating a lively venue.

10. Shimai Tenjin

Bakurocho, Kamigyo-ku Kitano Temmangu, Kyoto 602-8386 Kyoto Prefecture http://www.kitanotenmangu.or.jp/annual_events.php
Excellent
21%
Good
43%
Satisfactory
36%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 14 reviews

Shimai Tenjin

The Kitano Tenmangu Shrine holds a fair on the 25th of every month, while the fair on December 25th is called "Shimai Tenjin." In addition to the plant, antique and second-hand clothes stalls that open every month, it is lined with stalls selling such things as straw rope decorations and Aramaki salmon, and crowded with people buying their New Year supplies. Also popular as a New Year lucky charm and made on the premises, "Ofuku-ume" will be awarded from December 13 until the time of the "Shimai Tenjin".

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