One of Japan's greatest festival spectacles โ 54 massive festival floats (taiko-dai), each weighing 2.5 tonnes and decorated with elaborate golden ornaments, are carried through the streets by teams of young men. The floats are then used in dramatic float-carrying contests (kakikurabe).
Dogo Onsen's spring festival (April) celebrates Japan's oldest hot spring with a mikoshi procession carrying a portable shrine through the bathhouse district, traditional dance performances, and special public bath events. The festival's highlight is the night procession when lantern-lit mikoshi pass the illuminated Meiji-era bathhouse facade โ one of Japan's most photogenic festival settings.
On August 14 during Obon, Uwajima city releases hundreds of illuminated paper lanterns on the Suka River to guide ancestral spirits back to the afterlife. The slow-moving stream of glowing lanterns drifting seaward in the summer dusk, accompanied by traditional music from the riverside, creates a meditative and deeply moving spectacle unique to this castle town.
One of Shikoku's oldest and most distinctive festivals, held every July 22โ24 in Uwajima. The centrepiece is the ushioni โ a fierce bull-demon float with a long serpentine body carried through the streets. Accompanied by traditional music, fireworks over Uwajima Bay, and yakyu (bullfighting) events.
Held over three days in mid-August, the Matsuyama Festival features the spectacular Dogo Onsen Matsuri parade and the lively bon-odori (folk dancing) processions through the city centre. The festival celebrates the end of summer with traditional costumes, taiko drums, and street food stalls.
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