Traditions of Tokyo
35 traditions tied to Tokyo.
🇯🇵 Ōmuta, JapanKarutaかるた
Japanese playing cards from the 16th century, still raced over poems each New YearGame
🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanIkebana生け花
The Japanese art of arranging cut branches and flowers in a vesselPerformance
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 1 moreBonsai盆栽
A Japanese craft of keeping small trees in shallow pots, shaped for contemplationCraft
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanRakugo落語
Japanese solo comic storytelling told from a cushion using a fan and a clothPerformance
🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanKyōgen狂言
A traditional Japanese comic theatre of short farces, spoken dialogue and satirePerformance
🇯🇵 Sapporo, JapanSapporo Snow Festival札幌雪祭り (Sapporo Yuki-matsuri)
A week-long winter festival in Sapporo featuring hundreds of large snow and ice sculptures.Festival
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 3 moreObonお盆 (Obon)
A Japanese Buddhist festival honoring the spirits of ancestors through dance, light, and family reunion.Festival
🇯🇵 Tokushima, JapanAwa Dance Festival阿波踊り
A summer street dance festival held in Tokushima during the Buddhist season of ObonFestival
🇺🇸 Hilo, United StatesMerrie Monarch Festival
A spring week of hula in Hilo, closing with three nights of competitionFestival
🇯🇵 Kyoto, JapanNoh能 (Nō)
Japanese masked dance-drama, staged since the 14th century in family schoolsPerformance
🇯🇵 Osaka, Japan and 1 moreBunraku文楽
Osaka's puppet theatre, with chanters, shamisen players and puppeteers in plain sightPerformance
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan and 5 moreTaiko太鼓 (taiko)
Japanese drums, and the ensemble style of playing themPerformance
🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreYuri's Night
An annual global celebration on April 12 marking milestones in space explorationFestival
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanCulture Day文化の日 (Bunka no Hi)
Japan's 3 November holiday for the arts, learning and the Order of CultureFestival
🇯🇵 Tokyo, JapanTomimoto-bushi富本節
A subtle school of Japanese sung storytelling with shamisen, popular in the 1700sPerformance
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Karuta: Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)., Public domain, source
- Ikebana: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sapporo Snow Festival: Materialscientist, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bonsai: Ragesoss, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Awa Dance Festival: Rosino, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Obon: Batholith, Public domain, source
- Rakugo: Yuya Tamai, CC BY 2.0, source
- Kyōgen: Corpse Reviver, CC BY 3.0, source
- Taiko: Ohno.A, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Merrie Monarch Festival: Allanbcool, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Noh: Yoshiyuki Ito, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bunraku: 氏子, CC0, source
- Culture Day: Shubert Ciencia, CC BY 2.0, source
- Yuri's Night: Ryan Somma, CC BY 2.0, source