🏮 Yotaka Matsuri

夜高祭

Nanto, Toyama (南砺市福野市街地一円) · Every year on 1 May

MikoshiTraditional performing artsFood stallsFloats

229 days to go
Rooms around Nanto, Toyama fill up while the festival is on.

The Fuchu Yotaka Festival, held every year from May 1 to 3 in the Fuchu district of Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture, is a traditional spring festival event known for the parading of yotaka lanterns. It is divided into the eve festival on the 1st and 2nd and the main festival on the 3rd, and is held grandly throughout the city center. The parading of the yotaka lanterns, held every year on May 1 and 2, is positioned as a Shinto ritual of "welcoming the gods," and on the 3rd, the main festival concludes the series of rituals with the procession of the portable shrine through the town and the parade of floats and stalls. The sight of seven yotaka lanterns from seven neighborhoods, some as tall as 6.5 meters, being paraded to the accompaniment of flutes and yotaka drums, colors the spring night spectacularly. The highlight of the festival is the "hiki-ai" that begins around 23:00 on the 2nd. The smashing of the lanterns that occurs when six large lanterns pass each other on a narrow street intensifies with the young men's cries of "Yoiyasa," and leaves a strong impression on viewers.

Getting there

From Kanazawa Station, take the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Shin-Takaoka Station. Transfer to the JR Johana Line (35 minutes), get off at Fuchu Station, and walk 10 minutes. By car, about 35 minutes using the Hokuriku Expressway.