Koiwai Farm Winter Festival (小岩井農場まきば園冬まつり)
Japan's largest single-owner farm in rural Iwate opens its winter pastures for snow-train rides, sledging, winter fireworks, and illuminations at an estate that traces its origins to the Meiji era.
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"Praying for the five-grain harvest and plentiful fishing from Lake Ogawara, neighbourhood teams in Tohoku-machi's Kamikita district parade hand-made dashi floats to the cry of 'Yare, Yare' along a one-kilometre course in one of Aomori's most community-rooted autumn customs."
Tohoku-machi Aki Matsuri Kamikita (東北町秋まつり上北地区)
"In this remarkably preserved samurai village, eighteen hikiyama kabuki floats weighing several tonnes are hauled through cherry-lined streets and deliberately rammed into one another at crossroads in the centuries-old buttsuke collision ritual."
Kakunodate no Matsuri (角館祭り)
"A three-night parade of elaborately costumed dashi floats, mikoshi portable shrines and the haunting shika-odori deer dance winds through the streets of this Kenji Miyazawa hometown, celebrating the rice harvest under lantern light."
Hanamaki Matsuri (花巻まつり)
"In the valley made legendary by Kunio Yanagita's folklore collection, this harvest matsuri gathers the region's rarest rural performing arts: chagu chagu horse processions, shishi-odori deer dance troupes, kagura shrine dances and mounted archery yabusame."
Tono Matsuri (遠野まつり)
"The centrepiece of Tohoku-machi's central district autumn festival is the Hinomoto-Chuo Taimatsu fire ceremony, a torch-lit night rite commemorating the Heian-era stone inscription marking Japan's ancient geographical centre, paired with dashi float processions and kagura music."
Tohoku-machi Chuo Aki Matsuri (東北町中央秋まつり)
"Dating to the 1360s, this northern Iwate coast festival sees eight neighbourhood teams parade hand-built floats that rise to twelve metres, processing through the main street to pray for a bountiful harvest and avert disaster."
Kuji Aki Matsuri (久慈秋まつり)