Events in Japan in September 2026
Dates verified: September 27, 2026
The most memorable festivals, fireworks nights, flower seasons, snow festivals and light-ups in September 2026, each date checked against its organiser. Filter by kind or city, and open an event for the details.
- Hitachi Seaside Park Kochia Carnival · 18 Sept – 3 NovコキアカーニバルHitachinaka · Ibaraki · From ¥800The autumn counterpart to the blue nemophila hill, when tens of thousands of round kochia bushes turn Miharashi Hill a deep crimson through October.
Andre Benz via Unsplash · Unsplash License · cropped - Passed
- Gujo Odori · 11 Jul – 5 Sept郡上おどりGujo · Gifu · FreeJapan's longest dance festival, some thirty summer nights of street dancing in Gujo Hachiman, with four all-night sessions in mid-August that anyone may join.
丸山徹 via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped - Owara Kaze no Bon · 1–3 Septおわら風の盆Toyama · FreeThree September nights when the hill town of Yatsuo dances its slow, silent Owara through lantern-lit streets to the kokyu fiddle, a festival of restraint.
Daniel Beauchamp via Unsplash · Unsplash License · cropped - Kakunodate Festival · 7–9 Sept角館祭りのやま行事Semboku · Akita · FreeThree September days in Akita's samurai town when festival floats roam the streets by night and ram one another in the yama-buttsuke clashes.
Marie-Sophie Mejan via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0 · cropped - Katakai Festival · 11–12 Sept片貝まつり（浅原神社秋季例大祭奉納大煙火）Ojiya · Niigata · From ¥5,500Two September nights above a Niigata hill town, each closing at 22:00 with the four-shaku shell, the largest firework launched anywhere in the world.
Kropsoq via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · cropped - Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri · 19–20 Sept岸和田だんじり祭Kishiwada · Osaka · FreeOsaka's most dangerous festival, two September days when carved wooden danjiri floats are hauled at a run through Kishiwada and whipped round corners.
Stemu2000 via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · cropped
Frequently Asked Questions
The month opens with Owara Kaze no Bon, three nights of slow, silent dancing through the lantern-lit streets of Yatsuo from 1 to 3 September, and the last of Gujo Odori’s dance nights. Kakunodate’s floats ram one another in the yama-buttsuke clashes on 7 to 9 September, and the Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri hauls its carved floats at a run through the streets on the weekend before Respect for the Aged Day.
The first half of September is the likeliest time for a typhoon, and Owara Kaze no Bon is itself a prayer for the harvest to be spared the wind; its dancers stop when it rains. Most September festivals go ahead in light rain, but a typhoon can cancel a whole day, so keep plans flexible and check the organiser’s page the morning you travel. Humidity fades through the month.
In the nearest city. Yatsuo has almost no lodging, so most visitors stay in Toyama and take the special trains laid on for Owara; Kakunodate is heavily booked, so Akita City, Morioka or the Lake Tazawa hot springs are the practical bases; and Kishiwada is a short ride from Namba, making it an easy day from Osaka. Book the city rooms early all the same.