Tohoku · AomoriFestival
Kawauchi’s fish-catching contest on the Shimokita Peninsula has been discontinued — there is no 2026 edition.
This event has ended
Aomori Prefecture’s official tourism site states that the Kawauchi Yamame Tsukamidori event was wound up at the end of the 2024 financial year, and lists 14 August 2024 as its final running. The organiser has posted no announcement since. Some third-party listings still show “14 August” — those listings are stale. This page is kept as an archive record; see below for what runs in Kawauchi instead.
What It Was
The Kawauchi Yamame Tsukamidori was held every 14 August on the bed of the Kawauchi River, beside Kawauchi Baseball Stadium in the Kawauchi district of Mutsu City, on Aomori’s Shimokita Peninsula. Around 15,000 yamame — landlocked cherry salmon — were released into an oversized pen, and children of junior-high age and under waded in to catch them by hand.
A firework launched at midday was the signal to start. It was the centrepiece of Kawauchi’s summer calendar, organised by the Kawauchi Town Tourism Association from the local chamber of commerce. When rain swelled the river the contest was called off and a yamame sale was held instead at Machi-no-Eki Kawauchi — which is what happened in 2024, its last scheduled year.
What Runs Instead
Kawauchi’s surviving summer event is the Kawauchi Nebuta, revived in 2025 and running again in 2026 with four float groups plus an eve-of-festival night.
If the appeal was the fish-catching specifically, the Yokohama-machi Furusato Matsuri, also held on 14 August elsewhere in Aomori, combines a river fish-catching contest with fireworks.
Getting There
Kawauchi is not on the railway. Take the JR Ominato Line to Shimokita or Ominato Station on the Shimokita Peninsula, then a Shimokita Kotsu bus west along Route 338; the ride from central Mutsu via Ominato takes roughly an hour. In practice a rental car or a taxi from Shimokita Station is the workable option. The former festival site sits next to Kawauchi Baseball Stadium in the middle of the town.
Tips for Visitors
Do not plan a trip around this event. If you are on the Shimokita Peninsula in mid-August, redirect to Kawauchi Nebuta, or use the day for Osorezan and the Hotokegaura cliffs, both within reach of Mutsu. To confirm the discontinuation directly, the former organiser can be reached on 0175-42-2301.
Access and Map
| Status | Discontinued — ended after the 2024 financial year; last held 14 August 2024 |
|---|---|
| Former date | 14 August, annually |
| Former venue | Kawauchi River bed beside Kawauchi Baseball Stadium |
| Address | Kawauchi-machi, Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture |
| Access | No railway; JR Ominato Line to Shimokita or Ominato, then Shimokita Kotsu bus (about 1 hr) or taxi |
| Alternative | Kawauchi Nebuta (revived 2025); Yokohama-machi Furusato Matsuri on 14 August |
| Official site | Amazing AOMORI (Aomori Prefecture) |
Source: Amazing AOMORI — Aomori Prefecture official tourism site
