What Is the Furukawa Festival, and What Other Festivals Does Hida-Furukawa Hold?
This guide is for visitors who want to plan a trip to Hida-Furukawa around a festival, or who want to know what the town offers when no festival is on. It covers the Furukawa Festival in April, the Matsuri Kaikan that shows it all year, the candle night in January and the fox festival in September.
We used the official tourism site of Hida City, which is in Japanese, and translated the facts ourselves. All pages were read on 2026-10-04. Dates for 2026 are shown as published, and we have not seen the schedules for next year.
The Furukawa Festival
The tourism site says the Furukawa Festival is held every year on April 19 and 20. It says it is the annual festival of Keta Wakamiya Shrine, that the national government has designated it an important intangible cultural property, and that it is also registered by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. It says many visitors gather for it.
The site describes the festival as having a dynamic side and a quiet side. Its short descriptions name the Okoshi Daiko, a drum procession, and a parade of lavishly decorated floats called yatai. It calls the festival an important event that announces spring in snowy Hida.
Seeing the festival all year
The Hida-Furukawa Matsuri Kaikan lets you learn about the festival on any day. The spot page says the festival can be seen only on April 19 and 20, and that the hall shows it in 4K video. It says three real festival floats are always on display and that visitors can try operating a mechanical puppet and test-hit an Okoshi drum.
- Hours: 09:00 to 17:00 from March to November, and 09:00 to 16:30 from December to February.
- Closed: December 29 to January 3.
- Entry: 700 yen for an adult and 300 yen for a child as individuals.
- Combined ticket with the Hida Takumi Bunkakan museum: 800 yen for an adult and 350 yen for a child.
It is a five-minute walk from Hida-Furukawa Station on the JR Takayama Main Line. The page says there are discounts for groups and for people with disabilities, and that you can also make an original sake label. Prices may change, so check the page.
Sanji-mairi in January
The tourism site says Sanji-mairi is a custom of more than 200 years in Hida-Furukawa. On the night of January 15, people visit three temples: Enkoji, Shinshuji and Honkoji. The site says the visit remembers the founder of the Shinshu Buddhist school, and that people pray for a good match as they go.
For 2026 the site listed a market from 12:00 to 21:00. It listed a thousand candles along the Setogawa canal from 16:00 to 20:30. It also listed snow candles about two meters high on the main street from 16:00 to 21:00. It said kimono rental was available through the tourism association for 4,000 yen, or 2,000 yen for dressing only, with reception from 15:00 to 17:30 and return by 20:00. We have not seen the 2027 plan.
The Kitsune-bi Festival in September
The tourism site describes the Kitsune-bi Festival as a lesser-known festival in which about fifty people walk a fox wedding procession by torchlight through the town. It says the procession is based on an old local folktale. It says the festival is held on the fourth Saturday of September.
The 2026 date was September 26. The schedule on the site gave a shrine ceremony at 13:30, the procession leaving the festival square at 18:30 and a closing ceremony at 19:20. The site says the bride and groom are chosen from applicants across the country, and that visitors can have fox makeup done at the tourist information center and in town. Because this date has passed, we list it only as the 2026 record.
Another festival: Kamioka
The tourism site also mentions the Kamioka Festival, held in April, and says it is counted among the three great Hida festivals together with the Takayama and Furukawa festivals. We did not read its dates or details.
What we could not verify, and therefore left out
- The dates and schedules for 2027, and ticket or seating arrangements for the April festival.
- How crowded the town gets and the state of accommodation on festival days.
- Details of the Kamioka Festival.
- Whether the 2026 rental fees and hours repeat next year.
Related guides
- How do you visit Hida-Furukawa on foot, by bicycle or by car?
- What is the Setogawa canal in Hida-Furukawa, and when are the carp away?
Sources
All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.
- Six reasons to visit Hida City (Hida City official tourism site, in Japanese) — (the festivals overview)
- Hida-Furukawa Matsuri Kaikan (Hida City official tourism site, in Japanese) — (hours, fees, exhibits)
- Sanji-mairi (Hida City official tourism site, in Japanese) — (January 15 and 2026 schedule)
- Hida-Furukawa Kitsune-bi Festival 2026 (Hida City official tourism site, in Japanese) — (September festival)