🏮 Tonegawa Tako Age Taikai Dondo Matsuri

利根川たこあげ大会・どんどまつり

Toride, Ibaraki (Toride Ryokuchi Sports Park) · Every year in mid January

123 days to go
Rooms around Toride, Ibaraki fill up while the festival is on.

The Toride Tone River Kite-Flying Tournament and Dondo Festival is held at Toride Ryokuchi Sports Park in Toride City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and is organized by the Toride City Tourism Association. A yearly event held at the start of the new year, it centers on kite flying and dondoyaki (a New Year bonfire) as a way to pray for good health in the year ahead. The kite-flying tournament runs from the morning, and children can try their hand at making a kite, experiencing the pleasure of making one themselves. As the sun begins to set, the dondo festival begins: New Year decorations and kadomatsu (New Year pine decorations) are burned, and rice cakes are roasted over the remaining embers and eaten with a wish for good health. Access is good, about a 5-minute walk from Toride Station, and it is a New Year event that families can easily enjoy, whether flying kites freely in the park or taking part in the dondo bonfire.