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Hachimantai city - Hachimantai Season Opening
At this ceremony signalling the coming of
spring to Hachimantai, participants pray for the safety of
hikers and other visitors
during the on-season. This
is also a great time to enjoy the towering corridors of snow on the mountain's
Aspite Line road.
Date: Late Apr
Transportation: 60 mins by car from Tohoku Expwy Matsuo-Hachimantai IC
Information: Hachimantai City Division of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism 0195-74-2111
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Hiraizumi Town - Fujiwara
Spring Festival
The Spring Festival begins
on May 1 with memorial services for the four generations of
Fujiwaras who ruled the area through the twelfth century, and
reaches its peak with the May 3, when roughly 100 people
recreate Minamoto no Yoshitsune’s Eastern Flight in a parade
from Motsuji to Chusonji.
Dates: Early May
Access: 10 mins by car from Hiraizumi Sta. or
Hiraizumi-Maesawa IC
Information: Hiraizumi Tourism Assoc 0191-46-2110
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Hanamaki City - Osawa Hot
Spring Konsei Festival
This rather unusual festival
stars a phallic deity known as Konsei, who is brought down
from his home in a nearby shrine and bathed in the warm waters
of Osawa Hot Spring. Konsei is worshipped for safe birth,
matchmaking, fertility, prosperity for one’s descendents,
and related reasons.
Dates: Late Apr
Access: 30 mins by car from Hanamaki Sta.
Information: Osawa Hot Spring 0198-25-2021
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Hiraizumi Town - Motsuji
Gokusui no En
Motsuji’s Pure Land Garden
comes alive with the color of Heian (794 - 1192) Japan. Period
poetry readings are accompanied with the beautiful costume and
graceful sense of old Japan.
Date: Late May
Access: 3 mins by car from Hiraizumi Sta.
Information: Hiraizumi Tourism Assoc 0191-46-2110 |
Takizawa
Village – Chagu Chagu Umakko 100
horses in fine and gaudy trappings hoof it from Takizawa’s
Sozen Shrine to Morioka’s Hachimangu Shrine.
Their four and a half hour, 15-km path tinkles with
the “chagu, chagu” sound of the countless
bells on these beautiful animals.
Dates: Mid Jun
Location: Starts at Sozen Shrine (Sotokubo, Ukai, Takizawa)
Access: Free, one-day only shuttle bus from Morioka Sta.
(traffic regulations on festival day)
Information: Nambu Chagu Chagu Umakko Preservation Assoc
Office 019-651-4111
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Morioka City - Mt. Himekami Season Opening
1,123.8-m Mt. Himekami
offers a spectacular view from the peak of Mt. Iwate, Mt.
Hayachine, and the majestic Ou Mountains stretching along the
Iwate-Akita
border. Choose from any of four hiking courses. The Ipponsugi Course offers
90 minutes of white beeches and other beautiful alpine flora
on your way to the
top.
Date: 3rd Sun in May
Transportation: 25 mins by car from Tohoku Expwy Takizawa IC
Information: Moioka City Tamayama Branch Office
019-651-4111
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