Okage Yokocho (おかげ横丁), the old-style street in front of the Naiku (Inner Shrine) of Ise Jingu (Ise Grand Shrine) in Ise, Mie Prefecture, will hold its second "Akari no Matsuri" (灯りのまつり), a lantern festival, following last year's first edition. Isefuku Co., Ltd. (株式会社伊勢福) operates Okage Yokocho.
To celebrate Kanname-sai (神嘗祭) and Niiname-sai (新嘗祭), Ise Jingu's autumn festivals, about 2,000 lanterns will decorate the town from October 10 to November 24, 2026. Under the lanterns, Okage Yokocho will host autumn festivals and a variety of other events. Visitors can enjoy the autumn atmosphere of Ise in a calm, quiet Okage Yokocho at night, a different face from the daytime.
Event Overview
- Dates: Saturday, October 10 to Tuesday, November 24, 2026
- Venue: Throughout Okage Yokocho (free admission)
- Lantern lighting: From dusk until 8:00 PM (may be changed or canceled due to weather or other circumstances)
- Extended business hours:
- Until 6:30 PM on October 10, 11, 23 and 24, and November 22
- Until 8:00 PM on November 3 and 23
- Organizer: "Okage Yokocho Akari no Matsuri" Executive Committee (「おかげ横丁 灯りのまつり」実行委員会)
- Cooperation: Akafuku Co., Ltd. (株式会社赤福), Isefuku Co., Ltd. (株式会社伊勢福)
Lantern Lighting Ceremony
A lantern lighting ceremony takes place at 5:50 PM on October 10. After a performance by Shin'on Taiko (神恩太鼓), all the lanterns will light up together at 6:00 PM, wrapping the streets of Okage Yokocho in light.
- Date and time: Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 5:50 PM
- Venue: Okage Yokocho
- Program:
- 5:50 PM: Shin'on Taiko performance
- 6:00 PM: Lantern lighting
Celebration Lanterns
Visitors can also paint their own lantern. White lanterns are available for freely drawing pictures or writing words. The finished lanterns will be displayed in Okage Yokocho during the festival and lit one by one at night. After the festival ends, each lantern will be delivered to the painter's home, so the lantern you painted lights up the streets of Ise.
- Dates and hours: Saturday, October 10 to Sunday, November 8, 2026, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Venue:
- Weekdays and November 3: Iseji Saien (伊勢路栽苑) in Okage Yokocho
- Weekends and holidays (except November 3): Special venue in Okage Yokocho
- Fee: Lantern painting ¥3,000 (tax included), comes with an Akari no Matsuri original tenugui (hand towel)
Event Schedule During the Festival
October 10 (Sat): Katsuo no Tenpaku (かつおの天ぱく), Dried Bonito Shaving Experience
Timed to the season of Kanname-sai, this experience lets participants taste Japanese food culture with all five senses through katsuobushi (dried bonito). Participants learn about the history and making of katsuobushi, a traditional Japanese ingredient, and shave it themselves with traditional tools. The katsuobushi used was offered to Ise Jingu. Freshly shaved katsuobushi is served with rice cooked in an earthenware pot using Iga rice from Mie.
- Date and time: Saturday, October 10, 2026, 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
- Capacity: 30 people
- Venue: Daikoku Hall (大黒ホール), 2nd floor of Meisan Aji no Yakata (名産味の館)
- Program:
- Talk on katsuobushi and Kanname-sai
- Katsuobushi shaving experience
- Tasting of earthenware-pot rice with katsuobushi
- Fee: Adult ¥1,000 (tax included), parent and child (1 adult and 1 child) ¥1,200 (tax included)
- Because knives are used, children (elementary school age or younger) cannot participate on their own.
- If there are additional participants, ¥1,000 per adult and ¥500 per child will be added.
- Because the talk is somewhat difficult, children aged 10 and over are recommended.
October 11 (Sun): Ise Jingu Offering Procession
To celebrate Kanname-sai, newly harvested rice and various products gathered from across Japan are offered to Ise Jingu. Kanname-sai is an important festival of Ise Jingu in which the year's newly harvested rice is offered to Amaterasu Omikami (天照大御神), giving thanks for the harvest and praying for an abundant crop.
Every year at this time, Okage Yokocho holds an offering procession to deliver its gratitude for daily blessings and the spirit of "okagesama" to Ise Jingu. Reflecting the old tradition of young girls serving the gods, 12 girls in uchiki (袿) robes lead the procession carrying the five grains. Carrying offerings of the harvest sent in from across Japan, the procession travels from Okage Yokocho to the Kaguraden (神楽殿) of the Naiku.
- Date and time: Sunday, October 11, 2026, from 10:00 AM
- Route: Taiko Yagura (太鼓櫓), in front of Uji Bridge at Ise Jingu Naiku, then Kaguraden
- Offerings: "Shonai rice" (庄内米) from Yamagata Prefecture and Ise lobster, both handled by restaurants in Okage Yokocho. About 70 items, including Ise local sake "Okagesama" (おかげさま) and Ise soy sauce, will be offered together with their producers.
October 11 (Sun) and 12 (Mon, holiday): Gagaku Performance by Tsukumogami Gagaku Group
The photo is from a previous performance.
A solo exhibition by Fujii Francois (フジイフランソワ), "Tsukumo Kamigami Moude - Zoku no Ma no Kamigami to Asobu" (つくも神々もうで～俗の間の神々とあそぶ～), will be held at ART and CULTURE Yamatoku (ART and CULTURE山徳). As a special project of the exhibition, a gagaku (court music) group in which Fujii takes part, Tsukumogami Gagaku Group (つくも雅み 雅楽団, Tsukumogami Gagakudan), will perform live at the Taiko Yagura in Okage Yokocho.
Gagaku and dances in ornate costumes, offered with prayers and gratitude in celebration of Kanname-sai, let audiences experience the traditional courtly world up close. Between pieces, Fujii will talk about the thoughts and background behind the works and the artist's own worldview.
- Date and time:
- Sunday, October 11: Evening performances, 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM and 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
- Monday, October 12 (holiday): Daytime performance, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
- Venue: In front of ART and CULTURE Yamatoku, Taiko Yagura
About Fujii Francois
Fujii Francois lives in Aichi Prefecture. Fujii won the Jun-Asahi Advertising Award (準朝日広告賞) in 1998, the VOCA Exhibition 2000 Encouragement Award in 2000, and a prize at the Higashiyama Kaii Memorial Nikkei Nihonga Grand Prize Exhibition in 2008. Quoting classical paintings, Fujii creates works with motifs such as animals, plants, insects, yaoyorozu no kami (the eight million gods), tsukumogami (objects that take on a spirit), skulls and yokai, freely crossing between traditional Japanese painting and contemporary techniques and materials. Fujii holds Shinto priest qualifications and is also a gagaku musician.
October 10 (Sat) and 11 (Sun): Okage Yokocho x YEBISU "Golden Banquet" (黄金の宴)
This special two-day-only project with Sapporo Beer is timed to Akari no Matsuri. As dusk falls, the lanterns light up one after another, bringing out a dreamlike side of the town that differs from the daytime. Surrounded by the glow, visitors can enjoy dishes from the yokocho with three kinds of Yebisu beer. From the lively daytime streets to the lantern-lit streets at dusk, the event offers both sides of Okage Yokocho over the course of a day.
In addition, to the sound of Shin'on Taiko, Ebisu-sama (恵比寿様) walks through the streets of the yokocho, bringing good fortune.
- Date and time: Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11, 2026, 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM
- Venue: "Ebisu Yatai" (ゑびす屋台) in Okage Yokocho
- Same-day tickets: Set of 3 tickets for ¥2,000 (each ticket can be used as a ¥700 food voucher)
- Buyers of a same-day ticket receive a special Yebisu tumbler, limited to the first 250 buyers on both days.
- Participating shops: Ebimaru (海老丸), Dangoro Chaya (団五郎茶屋), Fukusuke (ふくすけ), Sushi Kyu (すし久), Ise Sushi Umisachi Yamasachi (伊勢鮨 海さち山さち), Haikara-san (はいからさん)
October 17 (Sat) and 18 (Sun): Megumi no Ichi (恵みの市)
In celebration of Kanname-sai, "Megumi no Ichi" is a market of stalls gathering specialty products from producers mainly in Mie Prefecture, such as chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms and hiougi scallops (桧扇貝).
- Date and time: Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18, 2026, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Venue: Special stalls (特設屋台) in Okage Yokocho
October 17 (Sat) and 18 (Sun): Naruhodo Kanname-sai (なるほど神嘗祭)
Panel displays explain Kanname-sai, the festival in which the year's newly harvested rice is offered to the gods, in an easy-to-understand way. Old-style farm tools that are rare today will also be on display, giving a sense of life and harvest work in those days.
- Dates: Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18, 2026
- Venue:
- Seasonal stall (季節屋台): 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Okage Yashiki (オカゲ屋敷): 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (admission fee required for Okage Yashiki)
October 24 (Sat) and 25 (Sun): 24th Shin'on Kansha Japan Taiko Festival (第24回神恩感謝日本太鼓祭)
Since ancient times, the Japanese have prayed to the gods for well-being and abundant harvests by beating taiko drums. Carrying on that tradition and spirit, this taiko festival is dedicated to the deity of Ise Jingu. Taiko drummers from across Japan gather in Ise, the spiritual home of the Japanese heart, and play with gratitude and reverence and with skills honed through daily training.
- Date and time:
- Saturday, October 24, 2026, 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM
- Sunday, October 25, 2026, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Venue: Throughout Okage Yokocho (parts may be changed or canceled due to circumstances)
November 3 (Tue, holiday): 3rd Ise Okage Music Festival (第3回 伊勢おかげ嬉楽祭)
Late autumn in Ise, when Niiname-sai is held at Ise Jingu, is the season of the arts and a refreshing time to enjoy music. To celebrate Niiname-sai and give thanks for the harvest, Okage Yokocho offers music to the gods at this festival. It is a festival for sharing happy, fun moments, the feelings said to be the origin of the word "uta" (song), with the people who gather. Music of old and of today connected to Ise come together and perform side by side.
- Date and venue: Throughout Okage Yokocho, 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- Okage Yashiki Part 1: 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM
- Okage Yashiki Part 2: 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM
- Okage Yashiki admission: ¥5,000 in advance (¥6,000 on the day)
6th Shin'on Kansha Ise Shinshu-sai (第6回 神恩感謝 伊勢新酒祭)
On Monday, November 23 (holiday), Niiname-sai is held at Ise Jingu to give thanks for this year's abundant harvest. In gratitude for the harvest, Okage Yokocho offers new sake to Ise Jingu and holds "Ise Shinshu-sai" as a "naorai" (直会) banquet to present it to visitors. Sake from 27 breweries representing Mie Prefecture and 53 breweries from across Japan can be compared side by side, so visitors can enjoy new sake full of this year's rich harvest and flavor in Ise.
- Date and time: Monday, November 23, 2026 (holiday), 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM
- Venue: Throughout Okage Yokocho
- On the day, a free shuttle bus also runs between Sushi Kyu and Isuzugawa Station (6:00 PM to 8:00 PM).
About Okage Yokocho
Located in front of the Naiku of Ise Jingu, Okage Yokocho is a streetscape that opened in 1993, with more than 50 shops lining the street. It recreates the atmosphere of the Ise road from the Edo to the Meiji periods and welcomes many worshippers as a place to experience Ise's food culture, traditional crafts and history. Visitors can enjoy seasonal events, buildings and scenery that evoke the Ise road, carefully selected specialty products and souvenirs, and local dishes. Events such as kamishibai (picture-card storytelling) performances and Shin'on Taiko performances are also held, and about 5 million tourists visit each year.
