Ojiya Festival Brings About 7,000 Fireworks to a Niigata Town of 30,000, August 21–23

Ojiya City in Niigata Prefecture is gearing up for its biggest event of the year, the Ojiya Festival, running for three days from Friday, August 21, through Sunday, August 23. The whole city joins in for the citywide celebration, which brings a folk dance parade and costume bon dance on day one, a karakuri mando parade and grand fireworks display on day two, and a community festival plaza on day three — a lineup of events that mark the close of summer in style.

About the Ojiya Festival

Ojiya sits along the blessings of the Shinano River and carries the tenacity of Japan's snow country. Since the Edo and Meiji eras, the city has nurtured skilled craftsmanship and an artisan spirit through its Ojiya-chijimi* weaving and ironworking industries. The Ojiya Festival traces its roots to the postwar "Autumn Festival" and "Commerce and Industry Festival," which grew up around Higashi-Odori and the Honmachi shopping street. Over time, these neighborhood festivals merged into a single citywide celebration and took shape as the Ojiya Festival we know today.

*Ojiya-chijimi is a fine hemp textile that has been woven in Ojiya since the Edo period. It is designated a National Important Intangible Cultural Property and inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Festival Highlights

About 7,000 Fireworks in a Single Night

Ojiya may be a small city of about 30,000 people, but it's also one of Japan's leading centers for fireworks production. The "Grand Fireworks Display" during the Ojiya Festival ranks among the biggest in Niigata Prefecture, launching around 7,000 shells. Ojiya is also home to the "Katagai Festival," known for launching the yonshakudama, said to be the largest fireworks shell in the world. Remarkably, the Ojiya Festival packs what Katagai launches in a full day into about half the time. The launch site sits close to the viewing area along the Shinano River, so visitors can feel the river breeze while shells burst overhead in rapid succession.

Large shakudama and nishakudama shells also light up the night sky throughout the show. The grand finale, the "Super Wide Vesuvius Starmine," funded by donations from local residents, spans roughly 1,000 meters across the sky — too wide to take in all at once. Don't miss the up-close power of the nishakudama shells and the way the fireworks reflect on the surface of the Shinano River.

Date and Time: Saturday, August 22, 7:30 PM–9:00 PM (gates open 5:00 PM); postponed to Sunday, August 23, same time, in case of severe weather

Paid Viewing Seats: Same-day tickets go on sale for seating on the left-bank levee stairway downstream of Asahi Bridge on the Shinano River, and on the rooftop of Hontoka. Check the city website for details.

Karakuri Mando: Where Precision Craftsmanship Meets Festival Spirit

Another hallmark of the Ojiya Festival is the karakuri mando — decorated lantern floats built with moving mechanisms. This year, 20 neighborhood associations and community groups have spent the summer designing and building their own karakuri mando, with adults and children working side by side. The floats parade through the streets to the sound of festival music.

Adding to the excitement is the giant mando mikoshi, carried through the venue mostly by young people who fill the air with spirited chants.

The Ojiya Festival's late-summer finale brings together flair, craftsmanship, tradition, and beauty — a living cultural treasure that carries the city's history and its residents' pride forward.

How the Karakuri Mando Came to Be

The earliest mando appeared at the 1958 "Autumn Festival," the forerunner of today's Ojiya Festival, and looked like giant mikoshi built from wood and rebar. Through the postwar era of rapid economic growth, welding techniques and mechanical know-how from the local ironworking industry brought dynamic movement and lighting to the floats, transforming them into today's karakuri mando. Since the bubble economy years, popular anime characters and current events have found their way onto the floats as well, blending handmade local tradition with the trends of the moment into mando found nowhere else.

Dates: Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23

Parade Hours: 6:00 PM–8:30 PM

Note: Traffic congestion and restrictions may occur near the parade route during and around these hours. Please plan accordingly if you'll be passing through the area.

Ojiya Festival Schedule

Additional events take place throughout Ojiya's city center during the festival, including around Hontoka. — a community hub for people, town, and culture — and along Sanpura-dori.

Friday, August 21

Saturday, August 22

Sunday, August 23

For more details, see the official website.

Inquiries: Ojiya City Community Vitality and Exchange Division, Tourism Section, TEL: 0258-83-3512