Yamaga Toro Matsuri

About this festival

Kumamoto's elegant lantern festival where 1,000 women dance through the streets balancing gold paper lanterns on their heads. The visual is unlike anything else in Japan — a quiet, mesmerizing alternative to loud summer matsuri.

Highlights

• ✓1,000 dancers with gold lanterns on heads
• ✓Yukata-clad procession
• ✓Onsen town setting
• ✓Far fewer tourists than mainstream festivals

Getting There