In Japan, there are thought to be 8 million gods. To put it in a nutshell, “o-matsuri”, or festivals in Japan, are held to celebrate one or more of these gods. O-matsuri is a tradition of Shintoism. Shintoism is celebrated at shrines through the practice of rituals: this is also what Japanese o-matsuri are all about. Every o-matsuri festival also has its origins and meanings attached. The research of the topic o-matsuri can lead to interesting findings. First of all, to understand what goes on in a Japanese o-matsuri, it would be good to have some ground knowledge about Japanese mythology which is contained in the two oldest anthologies of Japanese literature, “Kojiki” and “Nihonshoki”. Should there be the chance to talk about these too, we would like to introduce you to some notions regarding Japanese mythology on this site as well.


All right… There are 8 million Gods and they are celebrated one at the time in different places. They also take up different names! This is why in Japan there are countless o-matsuri celebrations. Tour guides of the different regions usually introduce travelers to the most famous and large-scale festivals. Hence why on this website, we would like to introduce festivals that are not as such.


As mentioned above, o-matsuri are simply “worshipped festivals”. O-matsuri are celebrated every year as a sign of gratitude towards one or more gods of a specific area (the “Land / Regional God”). Roughly speaking, the number of festivals equals the number of shrines. In Japanese “en-nichi” is the word to describe a festival where stalls are lined up within the shrine, the road that leads to the shrine or even the streets in the vicinity. Though a lot of festivals are held in the summer or in autumn, you can stay assured as o-matsuri are held throughout the year! It goes without saying, the scale varies from festival to festival. There are also celebrations that are not really “sacred” in the original sense of the word. O-matsuri is at times used to describe an even that is fun and made together!

Do go to some o-matsuri if you have the chance! Careful not to be driven by your impetus and spend all your money!