What's on in Matsumoto, Japan through the year

Peak crowds — Matsumoto Ame-ichi candy fair, Winter break (fuyuyasumi) in Japan

• Festival

  Matsumoto Ame-ichi candy fair

  10–11 JanMajor festivalCrowded

  A New Year market going back to the Edo period, on the second weekend of January: candy stalls from across Japan, a salt tug-of-war recalling the legend of salt sent to the town, and a costumed procession through pedestrianised streets. Source ↗

• Festival

  Castle Ice Sculpture Festival

  20 Jan – 5 Feb · usuallyIce season

  Carvers from around Japan work through a late-January weekend in the castle park, and the finished ice sculptures are lit up in front of the keep on the Sunday morning before they soften. Free, with food stalls. Source ↗

Still on: Castle projection mapping (10 Dec – 20 Feb (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Castle Ice Sculpture Festival (20 Jan – 5 Feb (usually)), Castle projection mapping (10 Dec – 20 Feb (usually))

Busy — Spring break (haruyasumi) in Japan

Nothing new starts in March.

Peak crowds — Golden Week, Spring break (haruyasumi) in Japan

• Nature

  Cherry blossom

  5–20 Apr · usually

  The black castle with the Alps still white behind it, which is the photograph. The moat is lit for about a week and the town stays a good deal calmer than Kyoto.

• Opening

  Kamikochi open season

  17 Apr – 15 Nov · usuallyTrail seasonBook early

  The valley opens with a ceremony in the middle of April and closes on 15 November, when the hotels shut and the road is gated. Private cars are never allowed in; it is the bus from Sawando or Hirayu. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Golden Week

  29 Apr – 5 MayCrowded

  The first week Kamikochi is properly open, so the Sawando bus terminal queues from six in the morning and the castle keep runs a two-hour wait. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Golden Week, Golden Week in Japan

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Kamikochi open season (17 Apr – 15 Nov (usually)), Golden Week (29 Apr – 5 May)

Busy — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in June.

Still on: Kamikochi open season (17 Apr – 15 Nov (usually))

Busy — Summer break (natsuyasumi) in Japan, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Kamikochi open season (17 Apr – 15 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, Summer break (natsuyasumi) in Japan

• Festival

  Takigi Noh at the castle

  5–10 Aug · usuallyArts festival

  Noh performed by firelight on a stage set below the castle keep on a summer evening. A few hundred seats, sold locally, and rain moves it indoors. Source ↗

• Festival

  Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival

  15 Aug – 10 Sep · usuallyMusic festivalBook earlyCrowded

  Three weeks of orchestral concerts and an opera, founded by Ozawa and still the reason the town's hotels fill in late summer. Tickets go months ahead. Source ↗

Still on: Kamikochi open season (17 Apr – 15 Nov (usually))

Busy — Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Kamikochi open season (17 Apr – 15 Nov (usually)), Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival (15 Aug – 10 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Nature

  Autumn colour

  1 Oct – 5 Nov · usually

  Kamikochi and the Norikura road turn first, from the treeline down, usually in the first half of October. The valley floor and the castle grounds follow a month later.

Still on: Kamikochi open season (17 Apr – 15 Nov (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Kamikochi open season (17 Apr – 15 Nov (usually)), Autumn colour (1 Oct – 5 Nov (usually))

Busy — Winter break (fuyuyasumi) in Japan, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Castle projection mapping

  10 Dec – 20 Feb · usuallyLights & fire

  From mid-December to mid-February the castle keep is lit with projection mapping every evening, a short looping show that has become the town's winter night-out. Free to watch; dress for a cold wait. Source ↗