If you are into dancing and drumming, you’d better add the Morioka Sansa Festival to your itinerary. Held at the beginning of August every year, this festival has made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest taiko drum ensemble in the world.
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The Morioka Sansa Festival set its record as the the largest taiko drum ensemble in 2014 when a total of 3,437 drummers, organized by the Morioka Sansa Odori Festival Organizing Committee, made the record setting performance. Although we haven’t been able to locate any newer statistics than this, we can promise that watching this parade of drummers taking over the streets of Morioka is a true feast not just to your ears but also your eyes. In total, more than 10,000 people participate in the parade every year, most of whom aren’t drummers but dancers.
![The Morioka Sansa Festival]()
The Morioka Sansa Festival
The Morioka Sansa Festival is one of the most important summer festivals in northern Japan. Countless teams join in the event representing schools, companies, and several groups of dedicated local taiko performers. All dressed in traditional Japanese clothing, but in different shapes and colors depending on the teams, the performers parade down the streets, every now and then pulling various floats alongside the dancers.
![The Morioka Sansa Festival]()
The Morioka Sansa Festival
The dance performed in the parade is a modern version of the traditional Sansa dance, that has a long history as one of the traditional dances in Iwate Prefecture. The modern version has been somewhat simplified, in order to make the festival more accessible to a large number of participants. No one seems to know the true origin of this dance but it has a much longer history than the festival, as this has only been held regularly since the late 1970s.
![The Morioka Sansa Festival]()
The Morioka Sansa Festival
As is the case with most Japanese festivals, a huge number of people from all walks of life join in the parade; it’s not rare to see small children dancing next to someone the age of your grandma. This sense of inclusion and variety is one of the reasons we enjoy Japanese festivals so much. Anyone with the desire to dance and have fun, and the time to put aside for the training sessions organized by the teams throughout the rest of the year, is welcome to join a team.
![The Morioka Sansa Festival]()
The Morioka Sansa Festival
Although the parade takes place in the evenings over the days that the festival is on, there is a plethora of events held in many parts of Morioka during the day as well. One of the best spots to catch daytime performances is in the big square in front of the JR Morioka Station. On top of this, large parts of the city are also filled with stands offering street food, sweets, and a variety of fun and games all over town.
![The Morioka Sansa Festival]()
The Morioka Sansa Festival
As the festival marks one of the highlights of the years in Morioka, many smaller local businesses organize various events, such as live music performances around the same time, further contributing to the great atmosphere all over town during the first week of August.
The parade usually goes on from 18:00 to 21:00 over four days but the official festival days can vary a little year to year, so be sure to check the official information beforehand. With the festival attracting massive numbers of visitors every year hotels fill up quickly and room prices are often inflated so we strongly advise that you book your accommodation as early as possible in order to avoid any unpleasant surprises.Kita Hotel (Hotel du Nord)
17-45 Uchimaru Morioka Iwate
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