Other Major Festivals in Japan

Feb. first Friday to Sunday: Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (Sapporo Snow Festival) Hokkaido. A contest of large snow and ice sculptures is held in Sapporo's Odori Park. A non religious festival.
Mar. 12: Omizutori (Water-drawing) Todaiji, Nara Pref. Held at the hall Nigatsudo of the temple Todaiji, the rite centers around purification of the hall and the spectators bu means of flaming torches and the ceremonial drawing of water from the nearby well Wakasai by monks, who then offer it to the hall's principal deity, kannon.
May 3-5: Hakata Dontaku (Hakata Holiday) Fukuoka Pref. Local citizens dressed as the Seven Deities of Good Fortune parade through the streets accompanied by colorful floats. The word Dontaku is thought to derive from the Dutch word zondag, meaning "Sunday" and, by extension, "hiliday".
May 15: Aoi Matsuri (Aoi Festival) Kamo Shrine, Kyoto. the main event is a procession of people dressed as court hobles of the Heian period. Participants wear headgear decorated with leaves of the Aoi plant (Asarum caulescens); the leaves are offered to the deities of the Kamo Shrine in hopes of a bountiful rice harvest.
June (mid): Hana Taue (Rice Transplanting Festival) Shimane & Hiroshima Prefectures. Rice farmers transplant rice while singing traditional songs and beating drums to welcome the god of the rice paddies to the fields. This is a form of Otaue (Great Rice-Transplainting), one of the agricultural rites performed throughout Japan.
June (mid): Peiron Boat Race, Nagasaki Pref. These races take place in long, narrow boats manned by up to 36 oarsmen. The sport is said to have been introduced from southern China; the term peiron is derived from the Chinese word for "dragon".
July 17: Gion Matsuri (Gion Festival) Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto. Held in honor of the deity Gozu Tenno, the festival reaches its high point with a parade on July 17 in Kyoto of two varieties of floats: large wheeled floats, topped by a tall pole and carrying musicians, and smaller shoulder-borne floats bearing tableaux with famous historical or mythical personages.
Jul. 24: Tenma Tenjin Matsuri. Tenmangu, Osaka. This waterborne parade of portable shrines accompanied by a flotilla of ornately decorated boats, carrying large dolls or filled with musisians, takes place on the river Yodogawa in honor of the deity of the shrine Tenmangu.
Aug. 12 - 15: Awa Odori (Awa Dance). Tokushima Pref. In the Tokushima Bon dance (Bon odori), groups of men and women parade along the main streets of Tokushima city, dancing and singing the song "Yoshikono-bushi" to the accompaniment of shamisen, flutes and drums.
Aug. 16: Daimonji Okuribi (Daimonji Bonfire). Nyoigatake (Daimonjiyama) Kyoto. To mark the close of the Con Festival, an enormous bonfire, laid out in the shape of the Chinese character Dai (meaning great) is lit on the slopes of the mountain Nyogatake (Daimonji-yama). it is the most famous of the Okuribi (send-off fires) to bid farewell to the souls of ancestors.
Sept. 16: Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Yabusame (Mounted archery). Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine, Kamakura, Kanagawa Pref. Horsemen dressed in the hunting costume of feudal warriors compete in a countest of traditional mounted archery.
Oct. 7 - 9: Nagasaki Suwa Natsuri (Festival of the Nagasaki Suwa Shrine) also called Okunchi or Nagasaki Okunchi. A parade of umbrella-topped floats, borne by groups of young men who whirl them in circles, and a Chinese-style dragon dance mark the height of the festival. The word Okunchi is a variation of Okunichi, "ninth day" and refer to the ninth day of the ninth month according to the lunar calendar, the traditional starting date of autumn festivals.
Oct. 22: Jidai Matsuri (Jidai Festival) Heian Shrine, Kyoto. The main event is a procession of people dressed in costumes representing various periods in Japanese history of famous historical personages, the festival dates from 1895.
Dec. 31: Gion Okera Matsuri (Gion Okera Festival) also called Okera Mairi. Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto. A sacred fire of the medicinal herb Okera (Atractylis ovata) is lit at the shrine on New Year's Eve. and through the early hours of 1 Jan. visitors can take home some of the fire kindled on length of special rope. used to cook the first meal of the year, the sacred fire is believed to prevent illness.