Takayama Autumn Festival 2026: Gifu Float Parade

Eleven gilded floats, some of them nearly three centuries old, are pulled through a castle town in the Japanese Alps over two October days – and one of them puts on a marionette show.

Overview

The autumn Takayama Festival, known locally as the Hachiman Matsuri, is the annual rite of Sakurayama Hachimangu, the shrine that watches over the northern half of the old Takayama castle town in the mountains of Gifu. It is the autumn half of a pair – the spring festival belongs to a different shrine – and together they are counted among the three most beautiful festivals in Japan. The float procession was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in December 2016.

What draws people here is craftsmanship rather than spectacle. The floats are lacquered, carved and gilded to a standard that earned Takayama its reputation for master carpenters, and the town they roll through is a preserved merchant quarter of dark wooden facades, sake breweries and morning markets. Autumn colour on the surrounding peaks completes the picture.

When and where

The festival falls on the same two calendar days every year, so in 2026 it runs on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 October. Events take place around Sakurayama Hachimangu and along the streets north of Yasugawa-dori, in the northern part of central Takayama. The full 2026 timetable is published by the city closer to the date; in the previous edition the floats stood on display from around 9:30 in the morning, the puppet performances ran at midday and in the early afternoon, and the evening procession began at 18:15 on the first day.

Getting there

Takayama is reached by limited express on the JR Takayama Line, roughly two and a half hours from Nagoya, or by highway bus from Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. From JR Takayama Station the shrine is a walk of about 20 minutes through the old town, and everything happens within walking distance once you are there. Do not plan to drive into the centre: the festival area is closed to traffic, and visitors arriving by car are directed to outlying lots with a free shuttle bus.

Photo: Sjaak Kempe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 – a float shown in its storehouse when rain kept it off the street

What to expect

The eleven floats are first lined up for viewing, then – and this is unique to the autumn festival – hauled around the streets in the afternoon, turned at corners on a special reversing wheel. The float called Hoteitai performs the karakuri offering twice a day: two puppet children swing hand over hand along ropes and leap onto the shoulders of a puppet Hotei, worked from below by hidden operators.

A separate procession of shrine officials, lion dancers and musicians in Edo-period dress winds through the town on both days. On the evening of the ninth, about a hundred lanterns are lit on each float and they move slowly home through the dark while the crowd sings a parting song.

Admission and practicalities

Watching is free and no ticket or reservation is needed. Individual events are cancelled outright in bad weather rather than postponed, so check the day forecast; when rain stops the procession, the floats are instead shown inside their storehouses. Visitors are asked not to touch the floats, since skin oils damage the lacquer, and drones are banned. Outside the festival, four floats are on permanent display at the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall in the shrine grounds.

Access and map

Source: Gifu Prefecture Tourism Federation – Gifu Travel Guide
Image: Photo: 663highland / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5; float photo: Sjaak Kempe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0