"Saijo Matsuri" River-Crossing 100-Lantern Float Festival (Ehime), 300-Year-Old "Kochi Sunday Market" & "Hiwasa Hachiman" Sea Festival (Tokushima)

Schedule: 14–17 Oktober (Saijo Matsuri), Setiap Hari Minggu Sepanjang Tahun (Kochi Nichiyo-ichi) & Oktober (Hiwasa Hachiman) | Location: Ehime, Kochi & Tokushima (愛媛県・高知県・徳島県)

In Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture—celebrated as the *"City of Spring Water"* (*Uchinuki*) at the foot of sacred Mount Ishizuchi—every October 14–17 unfolds one of Japan's most visually spellbinding autumn pageants: the **Saijo Matsuri**. Uniting the annual festivals of four local Shinto shrines (headlined by Isono Shrine), the celebration mobilizes over **130 traditional wooden floats** (*Danjiri*, *Mikoshi*, and *Taikodai*), one of the largest float fleets in all of Japan. Before dawn during the *Miyadashi* assembly, each intricately carved multi-tiered wooden *Danjiri* is hung with roughly 100 paper lanterns lit by real wax candles; the festival reaches its poetic climax on the afternoon of October 16 along the Kamo River with **Kawa-iri** (*Entering the River*), when over 70 glowing *Danjiri* line the riverbanks in a shimmering wall of light while teams of bearers wade waist-deep into the river currents to escort the sacred palanquin of Isono Shrine. Over in Kochi City, a vibrant living cultural festival takes place not just once a year, but every single Sunday without fail for over **330 years since 1690 (the Genroku era of the Edo period)**: the **Kochi Sunday Market** (*Nichiyo-ichi*), Japan's longest and oldest open-air street market. Every Sunday from dawn until late afternoon, a **1.3-kilometer stretch of palm-lined Otesuji Boulevard** extending straight out from Kochi Castle's Otemon Gate is lined with roughly 300 stalls run by local farmers, fisherfolk, and artisans. Strolling down the market, visitors snack on piping-hot **Imo-ten** (sweet potato tempura fritters), colorful Tosa country vegetable sushi (**Inaka-zushi** topped with yuzu-vinegared bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, and konjac instead of raw fish), retro *Aisukurin* sherbet cones, and fresh seasonal citrus. Along the southern Pacific coast of Tokushima Prefecture in Minami Town (Hiwasa), October brings Shikoku's most daring ocean festival: the **Hiwasa Hachiman Shrine Autumn Festival**. Across the sands of **Ohama Beach**—renowned as a protected nesting ground for loggerhead sea turtles (*Umigame*)—eight ornate 1.5-ton drum floats (**Chosa**) carrying young taiko drummers are hoisted on the shoulders of dozens of local men and charged straight into the crashing whitecaps of the open Pacific Ocean (**Umi-iri**) in a heroic prayer for maritime safety and bountiful catches.