Although it’s not one of the major festivals, the Akasaka Hikawa Matsuri is an easily accessible community festival with lots of activities and events.
What happens?
The festival features restored dashi, which are traditional wheeled floats. That’s not a very enlightening description, so if you want a better idea of what we’re talking about, check this video on YouTube. One of the floats features a not very traditional but quite impressive hydraulic lift which raises it up to about 5 metres in height.
Schedule 2024
A lot is happening over the weekend. On all days there will be a Bon Odori dance from 6:30 to 9 p.m. as well as food stalls from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Hikawa Shrine. Here are the other highlights.
Friday, September 13
From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., a traditional Hikawa float, entitled “two old men standing” (you can imagine how that looks), and the town council’s mikoshi (portable shrine) will parade between Akasaka-Mitsuke and Akasaka stations, and along Akasaka-dōri from Akasaka Station along to the 5-chōme police box. Procession map can be found here.
Saturday, September 14
A children’s mikoshi parade will take place from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Ark Hills area and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Akasaka area. From 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., stalls showcasing some of Akasaka’s famous stores will be set up.
Sunday, September 15
From 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., the Hikawa Shrine’s mikoshi followed by two traditional floats will be paraded around Akasaka. The procession map can be found here.
- 440 m from Roppongi-itchōme Station Namboku Line (N5)
- 449 m from Akasaka Station Chiyoda Line (C6)
- 0.6 km from Roppongi Station Hibiya Line (H4)Oedo Line (E23)
