Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Festival

The Hyakumangoku Festival celebrates the founding of Kanazawa as the capital of the Maeda clan, the richest domain of feudal Japan, whose "million koku" of rice give the festival its name. It is held over the first weekend of June, and its centrepiece is the grand procession on the Saturday, in which a long line of participants in period costume, with horses, drummers and lion dancers accompany an actor playing Lord Maeda Toshiie into his new city.

The procession leaves the wooden Tsuzumi Gate outside Kanazawa Station at 14:00 and takes around four hours to reach Kanazawa Castle Park along Hyakumangoku-dori. The kerbs are free and fill from early afternoon, so claim a spot with time to spare; the area near Oyama Shrine, where the procession pauses, is a good compromise between crowd and view. The Friday and Sunday carry smaller events, among them floating lanterns on the Asano River, a children's lantern procession and tea ceremonies, which make the weekend worth staying for if you are already in the city.

Kanazawa is reached directly by shinkansen from Tokyo, and the whole procession route is walkable from the station. Hotels are busy but the festival does not fall in a national holiday, so it is far easier to book than the Golden Week events. It is a pageant with a cast rather than a sacred rite, so expect brass bands, dance troupes and schoolchildren alongside the samurai.