Hakata Dontaku Festival

Fukuoka's biggest citizens' festival, with roots stretching back roughly 850 years to Hakata Matsubayashi, a New Year's parade first held in 1179 to honor the region's feudal lord.

The festival's modern name comes from the Dutch word "zondag" (Sunday, or holiday), adopted during the Meiji period. After being suspended during the war, it was revived in 1949 and moved to early May to celebrate Japan's new post-war constitution, later growing into a full citizens' festival in 1962. Today it draws over two million visitors each year.

The celebrations open with the Matsubayashi Parade, led by the three gods of fortune — Fukurokuju, Ebisu, and Daikoku — riding on horseback, followed by children's dances. Thousands of costumed "Dontaku-tai" groups, from company teams to schools and neighborhood associations, then dance and march through central Fukuoka along Meiji-dori and around Hakata Station and Tenjin, clacking traditional rice scoops (shamoji) in time with Hakata Matsubayashi music, joined by flower-decorated parade floats and performance stages set up across the city.