Carrying on the hometown’s masks, dancing Hanamatsuri in Toyohashi
Toyohashi Hanamatsuri
Festival information
EVENT INFORMATION- Season / frequency
- Jan / Every year
- Location
- Miyuki Shrine
- Area
- Aichi Prefecture・Toyohashi City(From Tokyo: approx. 1 h 40 min–2 h · bullet train)Prefecture-level estimate to a main station or airport, not the venue. Airport access, check-in and onward travel are extra; remote areas and islands can take much longer.
- Features
- Wishes behind the festival
- Last updated
- 2026/10/19
This winter ritual performance carries on the Hanamatsuri of the participants’ hometown, with people who moved from Toyone Village to Toyohashi celebrating it at Miyuki Shrine. Through dances wearing demon masks and yubayashi, it conveys the migrants’ feelings for their hometown and their ties to the local community.
About Toyohashi Hanamatsuri
Toyohashi Hanamatsuri is a ritual performance that carries on Okumikawa’s Hanamatsuri in Nishisaiwaicho, Toyohashi.
It began when people who moved from Toyone Village to Toyohashi recreated their hometown festival in their new home.
With Miyuki Shrine as a place of comfort, it keeps local memories and human connections alive.
Items passed down from their hometown, including demon masks, are also important parts of the festival.
Festival highlights
Highlights include the Hanamatsuri dances, the appearance of the demons, and yubayashi toward the end.
In the Flower Dance, the items dancers carry and the difficulty of the dance vary according to age. The demons are said to breathe new vitality into the earth and bring bountiful harvests and good health.
In yubayashi, dancers perform with bundles of straw and sprinkle water from the cauldron.
Source: 花祭（はなまつり） | 奥三河魅力創造カンパニー
Carrying on the hometown’s masks, dancing Hanamatsuri in Toyohashi
What to expect
The festival begins with Kami-mukae, welcoming the gods into the dance courtyard while water is heated in a cauldron.
Next, the dance courtyard, enclosed by a , is purified with the Ichi dance and jizime, followed by the Flower Dance, prayer dances, and demon dances.
Toward the end, yubayashi is performed, and the festival concludes with Kami-okuri, sending the gods back to their original place.
Location and access
- Venue and address
Miyuki Shrine (Nishisaiwaicho, Toyohashi).
Address Nishisaiwaicho, Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture
Dates and season
It is usually held on January 4.
Accommodation and hotels PR
Showing nearby accommodation.
Prices and availability are current at the time of retrieval. For multi-night stays, only the first night’s price is shown. Confirm the final price and directions to the venue with the booking provider. Select your dates again when using the area search link. Search area: within 3 km of Central Aichi Prefecture / Toyohashi City (the search is not centered on the festival venue)
Nearby attractions
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愛知県豊橋市にある美術館 · Museums
Origins and History of Toyohashi Hanamatsuri
Hanamatsuri is a ritual performance that has continued for several hundred years in Okumikawa. It is said to have been influenced by ascetic practitioners who used the secluded mountain valleys of the Tenryu River basin as a place for their training.
In Toyohashi, people who moved from Toyone Village amid postwar land development and dam construction recreated their hometown festival, making Miyuki Shrine its home base.
Passing down demon masks and other items from villages that were to be submerged contributed to the establishment of Toyohashi Hanamatsuri.
Official information
Toyohashi Hanamatsuri at a Glance
Toyohashi Hanamatsuri is an event in which people who moved from Toyone Village have carried on the Hanamatsuri of their hometown at Miyuki Shrine.
A series of dances is performed, beginning with Kami-mukae and including the Flower Dance, demons, yubayashi, and Kami-okuri.
例年は1月4日に開催されます。
Japanese Festivals.jp Editorial Team
Celebrating local culture and helping you discover a side of Japan you never knew.
Article updated: 2026/10/19
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