🏮 Nikko Yayoi Sai
日光弥生祭
Nikko, Tochigi (日光二荒山神社) · Every year on 13 April
211 days to go
Rooms around Nikko, Tochigi fill up while the festival is on.
The Yayoi Festival, the annual festival of Nikko Futarasan Shrine, is a traditional spring event held in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, over five days from April 13 to 17 each year. It is said that "spring in Nikko begins with the Yayoi Festival," and it is known as the festival that announces the arrival of spring in Nikko. This historic grand festival is said to have begun during the Jingo-keiun era (767–770), and it was named the Yayoi Festival because it was once held in the third month of the lunar calendar. It is said that with the change to the solar calendar in 1873 (Meiji 6), the festival date was moved to its current April. The highlight is the "Kakumachi Katai Kuridashi" on the 16th and 17th, when the hana-yatai (decorated floats) from the 11 east and west towns of the Nikko area gather in the shrine grounds. The old-fashioned "business card exchange" and the "Shinmei Mawari," in which participants parade around the worship hall while playing festival music, are performed, and on the 17th the festival reaches its climax with the lead duty town racing up the slope. Because of its strict customs, it is also known by the nicknames "Gota Festival" and "Kenga Festival." It is a festival of high formality.
Getting there
From JR Nikko Station on the JR Nikko Line or Tobu Nikko Station on the Tobu Nikko Line, take the Tobu Bus bound for Chuzenji Onsen or Yumoto Onsen for about 7 minutes, get off at Nishi Sando Iriguchi, and walk about 10 minutes. By car, it is about 7 minutes from the Nikko IC on the Nikko Utsunomiya Road (there may be road closures during the festival).
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