119th Kasama Chrysanthemum Festival

The Kasama Chrysanthemum Festival is the oldest in Japan. It began in 1908 when the chief priest of Kasama Inari Shrine set up a garden section to grow chrysanthemums for worshippers, and 2026 marks its 119th year. Centred on the grounds of the shrine, one of Japan's three great Inari shrines, it brings together plants raised by the shrine's own gardeners and by enthusiasts from inside and outside the prefecture. The full range of cultivation styles is on show: tall standards, cascades that hang like cliffs, thousand-bloom plants that carry a dome of flowers on a single root, classical varieties and bonsai forms. The 2026 festival opens on 24 October with a Shinto rite announcing the festival and an opening ceremony, and runs about a month to its final day on 23 November. During that time the shrine's autumn rites overlap with the flowers, including yabusame horseback archery along the approach and a night festival that closes the season. Kasama is also a pottery town, and the festival season coincides with kiln tours and the local chestnut harvest. The shrine is about a 20-minute walk from JR Kasama Station, and the Kasama sightseeing loop bus runs daily during the festival.