A traditional event that 1.7 million people visit every year

The Hamamatsu Festival is held from May 3rd to 5th every year. Over 1.7 million people come to this festival in three days, which makes it one of the largest festivals in Japan. In the Nakatajima Sand Dunes, a “Kite Festival” will take place in the daytime, and the Goten Yatai will be laid out in the center of Hamamatsu City at night

The big kites that each town fly in the sky

On the first day of the “Kite Festival”, the first kites will be flown to celebrate the birth of the first child. The kites are as large as the size of 4 to 6 tatami mats! There is a saying that the higher you fly your kite, the healthier your child will grow, so the participants pull the threads as hard as they raise a cloud of dust to celebrate their firstborn.

The main event, “Kite Battles”, will be held on the 2nd and 3rd day of the “Kite Festival”.  The big kites from each town entangle each other’s threads and cut off the other’s threads. The spirits of Hamamatsunians will fiercely collide with each other only at this time in a year so you definitely don’t want to miss this.

Goten Yatai colors the night of the festival

At night, more than 80 towns in the city begin to march with a “Goten Yatai”.

Led by a group with happi coats on, each town pulls their own “Goten Yatai”. Not only from the decorations and sculptures on each yatai, but also you can see the difference between the towns from the songs played by the kids on the yatai.

Other than these, there will be plenty of events that you can enjoy such as folk performing arts and a parade of the brass bands. The whole town will be filled with passion and excitement.