Japan is home to some of the world’s most fascinating cultural traditions, many dating back centuries. These traditions blend ancient Shinto and Buddhist practices with modern Japanese sensibilities, creating experiences that often leave foreign visitors stunned.
Here is a list of 18 bizarre Japanese festivals that must be seen to be believed.
Hadaka Matsuri
The Hadaka Matsuri in Okayama involves thousands of men wearing nothing but traditional loincloths as they battle to touch a designated ‘lucky man.’ Despite winter temperatures often dropping below freezing, participants brave the cold to pursue a year’s worth of good fortune.
The main event sees nearly 10,000 men crush together in a writhing mass while priests throw sacred talismans into the crowd.
Namahage Festival
During the Namahage Festival in Akita Prefecture, men dressed as terrifying demons with masks, straw capes, and knives burst into homes to scare children into good behavior. These ogre-like beings stomp around, threatening to take away naughty children while families offer them food and sake to pacify them.
The ritual serves as a community-enforced discipline system and is believed to bring good fortune for the coming year.
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Onbashira Festival
The Onbashira Festival, held every six years in Nagano, involves riding massive tree trunks down steep hills—a practice that has resulted in multiple fatalities. Men selected from local villages fell 200-year-old fir trees weighing up to 10 tons, then rode them down dangerous mountain slopes in what’s called ‘tree sliding.’
The festival culminates with participants standing atop these logs as they’re raised upright at each corner of the Suwa Taisha shrine.
Naki Sumo
The Naki Sumo ritual involves sumo wrestlers holding babies and making them cry. The baby who cries the loudest or longest is declared the winner. Parents willingly hand over their infants to these massive competitors, believing that a good cry will ensure good health and ward off evil spirits.
If the intimidating sight of the sumo wrestler isn’t enough, referees stand by with scary masks and whistles to encourage tears.
Paantu Festival
The Paantu Festival in Okinawa involves mud-covered men in leafy costumes who chase and smear children, brides, and anyone in their path with black mud. These mud monsters are believed to be gods who can absorb evil spirits and misfortune through physical contact.
Tourists often find themselves unwilling participants in this ritual cleansing, with many reporting the genuinely terrifying experience of being pursued by these otherworldly figures.
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Sominsai
During the Sominsai festival at Kokuseki Temple, nearly naked men fight through freezing temperatures to secure a sacred wooden talisman. Participants purify themselves in icy river water before racing through the temple grounds wearing only a minimal loincloth called a ‘fundoshi.’
The man who successfully grabs the talisman is believed to receive a year of exceptional good fortune, making the hypothermia risk seem worthwhile.
The Burning of Mt. Wakakusa
The annual burning of an entire mountainside at Mt. Wakakusa in Nara combines spectacular visuals with ancient tradition. After the fireworks illuminate the night sky, Buddhist monks set the mountain’s dead grass ablaze in a controlled burn that can be seen for miles.
The festival originated as a boundary settlement between temples or a method to drive away wild boars, but it has continued for centuries.
Toba Dai Kagaribi
The Toba Dai Kagaribi festival features enormous flaming torches nearly 100 feet tall, illuminating the night sky as participants pray for good fishing harvests. Local fishermen construct these massive wooden structures and ignite them in a display that transforms the coastline into a scene from ancient times.
The spectacular fires serve as prayers to sea deities and practical navigational beacons for those at sea.
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Misogi Festival
The Misogi Festival in Hakone involves participants purifying themselves by standing under powerful waterfall cascades while chanting ancient Shinto prayers. These waterfall rituals occur in midwinter, and participants wear only white loincloths as they endure near-freezing water temperatures that test their physical and mental fortitude.
The practice dates back centuries and represents one of the most extreme forms of Shinto purification. It is believed to cleanse the soul by subjecting the body to intense natural elements.
Kurama Fire Festival
The Kurama Fire Festival transforms a mountain village near Kyoto into a mesmerizing scene of fire and shadow as residents carry massive flaming torches weighing up to 100 pounds through narrow streets. The festival commemorates the relocation of the Yuki Shrine in 940 CE, with the torches believed to guide spirits and protect the village from disaster.
As night falls, hundreds of torches illuminate the processional route to the shrine, creating rivers of fire that snake through the ancient village in one of Japan’s most visually spectacular celebrations.
Hinamatsuri Nagashi
During Hinamatsuri Nagashi, families place traditional dolls on small boats and set them adrift on rivers and the ocean to carry away bad luck. The colorful procession of miniature vessels, each bearing ornate dolls in Heian-period court dress, creates a hauntingly beautiful scene as they float toward the horizon.
The practice stems from an ancient purification ritual where human-shaped paper dolls were believed to absorb misfortune before being cast away with the current.
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Oniyo Fire Festival
At the Oniyo Fire Festival in Kyushu, men carrying massive flaming torches chase people through dark streets to bestow good fortune through their burns. The torches weigh over 100 pounds and shower spectators with burning embers, which are eagerly accepted as lucky charms.
Participants believe that the more sparks that land on you, the more good fortune you’ll receive in the coming year.
Kaiko Kinin
The Kaiko Kinin at the Toyama prefecture honors silkworms that died during silk production with elaborate Buddhist funeral rites. Silk farmers gather at local temples where priests perform solemn ceremonies with incense and sutras to thank the insects for their sacrifice.
This centuries-old tradition reflects Japan’s animistic beliefs that even the smallest creatures deserve respect and gratitude, especially those who contributed to the nation’s once-thriving silk industry.
Danjiri Matsuri
The Danjiri Matsuri involves massive wooden floats weighing several tons racing through narrow streets at breakneck speeds. Young men perform acrobatic stunts atop these moving shrines while navigating sharp turns, frequently resulting in dangerous crashes. Several deaths have occurred throughout the festival’s history, but participants view the risk as part of their devotion to local deities.
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Shirone Giant Kite Battle
The Shirone Giant Kite Battle pits teams from opposite banks of the Nakanoshima River against each other in an aerial war. Teams use massive kites measuring 23 feet wide and 36 feet long. In a tradition originating from cross-river village feuds over 300 years ago, teams attempt to entangle their opponents’ kite lines and drag them down.
When kites crash, teams often end up in the river, creating a spectacle combining engineering, strategy, and inevitable watery humiliation.
Setsubun Bean-Throwing Festival
During Setsubun, families throw roasted soybeans at a family member wearing a demon mask while shouting ‘oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi’ (demons out, good fortune in). In temples across Japan, celebrities and sumo wrestlers throw beans into eager crowds who believe catching and eating them brings specific good fortune for each bean consumed.
The ritual acts as a spiritual spring cleaning, driving away evil spirits before the beginning of spring in the traditional calendar.
Warei Taisai
The Warei Taisai festival in Wakayama prefecture requires participants to walk through the streets laughing as loudly and continuously as possible. The unusual celebration stems from a legend about two feuding gods finally reconciling through laughter, suggesting that even divine beings can’t maintain anger when faced with genuine mirth.
Scientists now support the festival’s underlying wisdom, as research shows forced laughter produces many of the same physical benefits as spontaneous laughter.
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Tobata Gion Oyamagasa
During the Tobata Gion Oyamagasa, men carry enormous lantern-decorated floats weighing over a ton each through the streets in complete darkness. The participants must navigate by the light of a single candle as they balance these massive structures on their shoulders for hours.
The spectacular nighttime parade creates a mystical atmosphere as the illuminated towers float through the darkness like massive fireflies, honoring shrine deities and demonstrating community strength.
A Tradition of Beautiful Extremes
Japanese festivals reveal a culture that embraces contradictions. They find beauty in chaos, spirituality in suffering, and community bonds through extreme experiences. These celebrations have survived modernization because they connect Japanese people to their cultural identity in ways that technology cannot replace.
These festivals remind us that sometimes the most meaningful traditions are the ones that seem completely incomprehensible to outsiders.
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