Feature

It's pretty much true that there's always a festival going on somewhere in Japan. Many of these are related to indigenous Shinto rituals and points on the calendar and they come in all shapes and sizes. For the curious traveller, the matsuri (festival) tradition is a perfect way to see the real Japan and its customs, legends, food and costume. And many of them are pretty eye-opening…

MOTION AND STILLNESS:

Hida Furukawa Matsuri

When: 19th and 20th April

Where: Furukawa, Gifu Prefecture

Why: Welcoming of spring

Hida Furukawa Matsuri is a festival of two halves and you definitely want to be there for the first. Day one is given over to the Okoshi Daiko (Wakening Drum) event, whose focus is a gigantic wooden mounted double-ended drum, which serves to stir the town and let everyone know festivities are underway.

Ignore the big drum for now though. The best place to start is by following one of the small local teams who will charge through the streets attempting to reach the prize first, thereby 'winning' a year's good fortune. They'll be doing this while shouting, consuming (and spilling) vast amounts of sake and occasionally stopping to balance atop the long wooden poles that carry their team's small drum. As this is one of Japan's several Hadaka (naked) festivals, they’ll also be wearing next-to-nothing, and Hida is not warm at this time of year.

Everything culminates in the square area around the town's main shrine where the big drum takes centre stage and the teams rush to reach it. The heavy jostling will all be worth it to see some spectacular pole-top showing-off by the victorious group.

Luckily, the calm after the storm is well worth it too. In the daylight, Furukawa's old town, with its canal-lined streets is a traditional idyll that makes for a tranquil stroll before the day's yatai (float) parade begins. The yatai are ornately and gorgeously decorated and several feature marionette performances on their upper decks. What you don't want to miss though is the float-top kabuki performance by a couple of adorable kids in full traditional theatre dress.

SNOW AND ICE:

Yuki Matsuri

When: Early February

Where: Sapporo, Hokkaido

Why: Because it makes winter worth it

Both UK and US citizens have had a good moan about the snow in recent times, often because of inadequate preparations and slow 'clean-up' efforts that make getting around a real pain. In Japan's far North in Hokkaido, where a good fall is nearly always on the cards, no such problems exist; they know exactly how to deal with the white stuff: pile it up, pack it down and carve some giant cartoon characters in it.

One of the most famous, most visited but least traditional festivals, the Yuki Matsuri started in the fifties when a bunch of kids made some snow sculptures in the city centre's Odori Park. Soldiers from the Self Defense Force joined in and, being soldiers, had to go bigger and better, thus birthing the massive spectacular sites the festival is known for today. The SDF still play an important role; if Sapporo doesn't happen to get enough snow, you’ll see them bringing in extra supplies in huge trucks.

Now it's an international event, expect to see plenty of symbolic sculptures from all over the world, alongside the usual larger-than-life effigies of Disney and anime creatures so beloved in Japanese culture. Some monuments are so gigantic they even double up as stages for entertainment. If you fancy something a little more interactive, I'd definitely recommend a trip uptown to Sapporo Satoland for a go on the massive snow slide or a wander in the maze. For night time fun, head to Susukino district and watch blocks of ice spring to life as fish, foul and princesses, all with the aid of chainsaws and blowtorches.

With no demons to cast out or good fortune to fight for, the Yuki Matsuri is definitely one of the more easygoing Japanese festivals and the setting is perfect. Sapporo, is that rare beast among Japanese cities, in that its grid system makes it easy to know exactly where you are at all times. It has all the amenities of your Tokyos and Osakas, just on a smaller scale. And the warming power of Sapporo Ramen (noodles) is to die for. So, next Winter, if you can, avoid the blues and head for Sapporo, where snow and ice only mean one thing: fun.

"THE PENIS FESTIVAL"

Kanamara Matsuri

When: first Sunday in April

Where: Kawasaki, Kanagawa (Greater Tokyo Area)

Why: Well, why not?

Like most festivals in Japan, Kawasaki's Kanamara Matsuri has serious Shinto origins and is based around a local shrine. Unlike most shrines, however, the object of veneration at Kanamara happens to be a large steel phallus. Visited in days of yore by prostitutes asking for protection against syphilis, the shrine has now become the focal point for an orgy of fun, which raises money for HIV research.

Though it initially looks like something that might be more at home at San Francisco Mardi Gras, even the most conservative among the Japanese wouldn't see the Kanamara parade as anything less than wholesome. So leave preconceived ideas of the reserved Japanese at home and come expecting to see children and grandparents alike sucking on suggestive looking lollipops and anyone and everyone straddling schlong-shaped see-saws.

Yet there are no red cheeks in sight, aside of those on the heavily made-up (and particularly unconvincing) transvestites who carry the float with the huge hot pink penis on top. Coinciding with the other all-important springtime phenomenon, cherry blossom season, it's all in the name of fertility and good luck and young people especially take it very seriously, bringing their prayers and wishes on luridly decorated wooden tablets (ema) to offer at the shrine.

There's also music, dancing and delicious street food (the staple of all Japanese festivals) and if you don't have any special fertility-related requests, at least Kanamara has the best festival souvenirs. Oh, and those lollipops have female counterparts too.

Sun, Sea, Drums, Fire and Violence:

Noto Peninsula Festivals

When: Spring, Summer

Where: Noto Hanto, Ishikawa Prefecture

Why: Tradition!

Not on the top of most foreign visitors' must-see lists, the usually sleepy Noto Peninsula by the Sea of Japan, in Ishikawa, is nevertheless a popular getaway for urban domestic holiday makers who want to soak up some old style Japan.

However, anyone who's spent much time in Japan will tell you these small, local and way-out kinds of places really do the best festivals. And Noto's rural seaside idylls really transform in festival season. Starting in mid-spring, the normally not-much-to-speak-of mini city of Nanao kicks things off BIG style with Saihakusai (May 3rd - 5th). The main attractions of this carnival of colour are the DekaYama (Pulling Mountains); wheeled wooden floats, which are 12 metres (40 ft) high, and once decked with flags, ornaments and twenty-odd flute-playing, drum banging kids, weigh about 20 tons. Locals will tell you they are visible from space and while I have my doubts about that, they're certainly an arresting site from the ground, especially when they get caught on telephone poles or attempt to change direction in Nanao’s incredibly narrow streets. Visitors help in pulling these monsters is always appreciated.

A bit further up the peninsula, Ushitsu's Abare (Rampage) is a firm favourite among both locals and foreigners, who have taken to calling it The Fire & Violence Festival. Taking place on the first Friday and Saturday of July, day one is given over to a parade of 40 giant Kiriko (Noto's gorgeous unique illuminated lantern floats) which eventually gathers round a huge fire on the pier to the accompaniment of drums and fireworks.

The origins of the festival are said to be in the fight against a violent plague that swept the countryside some centuries ago. On Saturday night, minimally clothed local men deal with this tradition by parading two mikoshi (portable shrines) through the town, stopping sporadically to drop and kick the hell out of them before dragging them into the river to smash them about some more, while a man on the bank beats a burning pole, raining red hot embers down on the whole scene. Eventually they reach the town's central shrine, where they'll proceed to bash the mikoshi some more before (and during) burning it in a huge bonfire. When that's all over, Kiriko carrying still continues, in an increasingly precarious fashion, as ton-heavy floats get more difficult to hold as participants get more inebriated. Aside of children, nobody at this festival isn't drunk.

The last biggie of the season comes on 23rd-25th of August in the shape of the Wajima Taisei (Great Festival) where yet more loincloths and fire can be seen, alongside more mikoshi shrines, this time taken for a nice dip in the sea by men in drag.

Wajima is famous for its lacquerware, so here the kiriko floats are especially beautiful and well crafted. This doesn't stop the carriers taking them for a spin at every junction though, often dropping them as extreme dizziness sets in. Try and keep your own wits about you for when that 50ft pole with the burning thatch atop it comes crashing down at the end. There are no safety barriers in Noto.

For more information on Japan, please visit our destination guide

More features on Japan:

Japan: Tips for the First Time Visitor

The Snow Monkeys of Jigikudani Onsen

-------------------------------------------

About the writer:

Andrew is a member of the vtravelled editorial team.