Kawagoe Festival 2026: Japan's Grandest Float Festival Returns October 17–18

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One of the Kanto region's biggest float festivals is about to fill Kawagoe's historic streets with music, light, and motion.

Two Days in "Little Edo"

Kawagoe Festival runs Saturday, October 17, through Sunday, October 18, 2026, with streets around the float route closed to vehicle traffic from 10am to 10pm on both days. The floats move through Koedo, Kawagoe's well-preserved old merchant district, where warehouse-style buildings still line the main street.

City Hall and the Night Showdowns

On the afternoon of October 18, floats pass directly in front of Kawagoe City Hall in one of the festival's set-piece moments. After dark, the mood shifts: this is when hikkawase - floats turning to face each other and battling it out through live hayashi music - happens most dramatically, lit by lanterns in what's known as Yoiyama.

Ask Marine

Want to know more about the floats themselves, or how hikkawase actually works? Ask Marine.

What To Know

For fans of traditional Japanese culture, Kawagoe Festival is one of the most accessible ways to see centuries-old float culture up close - and unlike many regional festivals, it's an easy day trip from central Tokyo.

The floats themselves are treated as serious cultural property, many generations old and cared for by specific neighborhoods, and the festival as a whole is designated a nationally Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

What Fans Are Saying

• "The night hikkawase battles are honestly more intense than I expected."
• "Koedo looks like a different century once the lanterns come out."
• "Didn't realize this was a day trip from Tokyo - adding it to the list."

Original Japanese

• 「夜の曳っかわせ、思った以上に迫力ある」
• 「提灯がつくと小江戸が別の時代みたい」
• 「東京から日帰りできるの知らなかった」

Easy Japanese

10月17日・18日、埼玉県川越市で「川越まつり」が開かれます。きれいな山車が町を歩き、夜は山車同士が音楽で競います。