I’ve been looking up the different festivals but I’m kinda stuck on it… I wanna try and go in the spring or fall since I don’t handle heat well- (I get headaches very easily) -Looking them up tho, I don’t know which is best to go to, some of the big ones look fun but I’m autistic so huge crowds can cause a bit of panic and loud sounds set off my headaches as well. I was going to base my trip for a date that could match a festival- (no year planned out yet though) -but I wanted to ask too are the festivals worth it? From what I’ve seen they look fun, I’m just worried I’ll struggle with it due to sensory issues and social anxiety. It’s something I’ve wanted to try for years so maybe if anyone has any advice or experience with spring/fall festivals and what ones are fun but maybe not too huge? Or are they harder to track time wise then if they are smaller? I’m sorry, I hope I’ve provided enough info!
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Anything that you’re going to find a decent amount of information on is probably going to be big. There are tonnes of smaller festivals, but they will have next to no information in English, unless someone blogged about it. Personally, I wouldn’t book my trip around a festival unless it was a large, crowded, famous one. Based on what you wrote, I’d suggest planning a trip, then asking if any smaller festivals are going on during the time you chose.
I’d say you should aim for festivals in smaller cities or towns. September is still pretty grossly hot, but maybe something like [Owara](https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/246/)? It’s a major tourist attraction, and it’s busy, but it’s slow paced, and not too much to take in as far as noises and lights go. It takes place in the high part of a town here in Toyama, and folks line the streets watching the dancers and listening to the music, while local shops sell food and drink and things like that. It’s a really great one because the action is concentrated, so people stand still to see it, and the dance groups move around the neighborhoods, so crowds don’t tend to swarm into one stagnant zone.
A more autumnal one would be [Hachiman Matsuri](https://ohmatsuri.com/en/articles/gifu-hachiman-matsuri) out in Takayama. More crowded, usually, as more international tourists go to Takayama…but it’s a lovely place! I do recommend it.
Another thing to check out would be fireworks festivals, as they’re usually in pretty open spaces like near water, parks, etc. so it’s a bit less chaotic. I wear earplugs, but the displays themselves are not super loud.
The vast majority of your run-of-the-mill matsuri in general are pretty crowded, especially ones based around shrines. Even in smaller cities. They tend to be packed with food vendors on small streets and usually have some claustrophobic layouts, unless it’s at a big open park. I don’t deal well with dense crowds like that, and get overloaded easily. But I can spend a little bit of time at those matsuri. It helps me if I go toward the end of the afternoon/early evening when it isn’t super packed, instead of going later at night when all the teenagers arrive. I can still catch the local kids and groups doing their taiko drumming before things get too hectic, and as it gets busier, I tend to slip into the side streets and areas around the outside of it.
No matter when you visit, if there is one going on, try to go to it. You can always leave if it’s too much!
First, it depend what you are expecting, a festival at a shine, something in the style of the festival at the end of the movie Your Name ? I will list different kind of events, but if you want to see something in that style, you want a festival at a shrine.
I personally went to Nezu shrine festival that is in mid September and it was not too big, compared to the big festival such as Sanja Matsuri. This is just an example that I experienced, September can still be hot depending on the days and chance to typhoon too.
February you can have plum related festival, for example there is something almost every weekend of February at Yushima Tenji for their Ume Matsuri. That is not too big, but for sure if there is an even like a taiko drum performance, there will be more people there.
In early March you have many hina matsuri events, this is usually centered around display of dolls and not really on activities.
In Early April is Hana matsuri, that is celebration for Buddha’s birthday, so there can be event in many temples. There is also other events like the white heron dance at Senso-ji. As for crowd, it might really depend on the size of the temple I guess.
In May, you start to have much more festival at shrines, so this is the typical food stalls and mikoshi procession, you might have to search more for a smaller local festival at a small shrine and not one at a major famous shrine.
October and November there is many autumn festival, dance event and historical procession too.
Here is a website I usually check to have an idea of events : [http://yumemakura.travel.coocan.jp/index.html](http://yumemakura.travel.coocan.jp/index.html) I would suggest to search more about them to see pictures and video so you can have a better idea of the crowd.
But again, you will have better luck at smaller temple/shrine or even a bit outside of the big cities. I’ve been to a local festival in Tokyo and it was clearly only attended by people of the neighborhood, and it might have been more crowded when the mikoshi came in, but for the food/game stands, it was relatively calm. It’s probably much easier to find if you can read Japanese (this site seems to list many [https://matsuri-no-hi.com/](https://matsuri-no-hi.com/)) as in English people usually report only on big events.
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One that can be interesting is Hakone Daimyo Gyoretsu. It it a parade of people dressed in historical costume and there is some food vendors that sell street food around the area. I do not think it is worth going to Hakone only for that, but if you plan to go to Hakone, you can start your day with the parade then continue visiting Hakone, sleep there at a ryokan and finish your visit of Hakone the next day.
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You can also just decide on the dates and look for events based on your dates.
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As a side note, in general, the big cities and popular tourist spots can get quite crowded in general and train, especially during rush hours and last train, can be quite packed, so if you are not good with crowds, it might be difficult at times.
It really depends on what you want to see or experience. If you are planning on travelling around spring or autumn then there will be a bunch of festivals set up for cherry blossoms or autumn leaves. These are more focused on admiring nature and a few stalls set up in the area. It’s a bit more of a low key festival vibe especially if you are outside of Tokyo and Kyoto.
More wintry I suppose but [Setsubun at Yasaka shrine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OheW7qvTyso) was beautiful, but it is crowded and when the Maiko dance you will be packed in like sardines. [Burning the hill at Nara](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXOewBiyfSA) seemed less a thing I would recommend, it was cold as hell even though I was bundled up, there was a lot of waiting and being from Southern California I am used to seeing much bigger fires on much bigger mountains, I think locals get more out of it than tourists.