UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in Japan

Q: What are Japan's UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage elements?

Japan has 23 elements on UNESCO's Representative List: Performing arts: Nogaku (Noh) theatre, Ningyo Johruri Bunraku puppet theatre, Kabuki theatre, Gagaku, Kumiodori (traditional Okinawan musical theatre), traditional Ainu dance Festivals and rituals: Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals; Furyu-odori ritual dances; Raiho-shin, ritual visits of deities in masks and costumes; Nachi no Dengaku at the Nachi Fire Festival; Mibu no Hana Taue rice-planting ritual; Sada Shin Noh; Oku-noto no Aenokoto; Hayachine Kagura; Akiu no Taue Odori; Dainichido Bugaku; Daimokutate Crafts and skills: washi (hand-made Japanese paper); Yuki-tsumugi silk; Ojiya-chijimi and Echigo-jofu ramie fabric; the skills for conserving wooden architecture; traditional sake-making with koji mold (2024) Food: washoku, traditional Japanese dietary culture, notably for New Year

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UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity recognizes living traditions rather than places: performing arts, rituals, festivals, crafts and food culture. Japan has 23 elements on it, from Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku to washoku and, since 2024, traditional sake-making with koji mold. Several are festivals you can attend, like the float festivals (Yama, Hoko, Yatai) and the Nachi Fire Festival, and they're listed below with their dates.

What are Japan's UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage elements?

Japan has 23 elements on UNESCO's Representative List:

Performing arts: Nogaku (Noh) theatre, Ningyo Johruri Bunraku puppet theatre, Kabuki theatre, Gagaku, Kumiodori (traditional Okinawan musical theatre), traditional Ainu dance
Festivals and rituals: Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals; Furyu-odori ritual dances; Raiho-shin, ritual visits of deities in masks and costumes; Nachi no Dengaku at the Nachi Fire Festival; Mibu no Hana Taue rice-planting ritual; Sada Shin Noh; Oku-noto no Aenokoto; Hayachine Kagura; Akiu no Taue Odori; Dainichido Bugaku; Daimokutate
Crafts and skills: washi (hand-made Japanese paper); Yuki-tsumugi silk; Ojiya-chijimi and Echigo-jofu ramie fabric; the skills for conserving wooden architecture; traditional sake-making with koji mold (2024)
Food: washoku, traditional Japanese dietary culture, notably for New Year

Are the tea ceremony and ikebana on the list?

No. Neither the tea ceremony (sado) nor ikebana is on UNESCO's Representative List, although both are often described that way. Japan's craft entries are washi paper, Yuki-tsumugi silk, Ojiya-chijimi and Echigo-jofu ramie fabric, the skills for conserving wooden architecture, and sake-making with koji mold.

Which of them can I see as a visitor?

Above all the festivals: the float festivals (Yama, Hoko, Yatai), held in towns across Japan, among them Kyoto's Gion Festival, the Chichibu Night Festival and the Kakunodate Festival, and the Nachi Fire Festival. Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku play regularly in theatres. The events on this page give each festival's dates.

Festival

Chichibu Night Festival

An annual festival in Saitama featuring six ornate floats illuminated by thousands of lanterns, along with fireworks and traditional performances.

2–3 Dec 2026Chichibu · Saitama

Festival

Inuyama Festival

Historic shrine festival featuring thirteen elaborate floats equipped with mechanical puppets performing traditional ceremonies on the first weekend of April.

4–5 Apr 2027Exact date not confirmed yetInuyama · Aichi

Festival

Seihakusai Festival

This Ishikawa festival of over 1,000 years parades three huge wheeled floats with life-size Kabuki figures, recognised as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

3–5 May 2027Exact date not confirmed yetNanao · Ishikawa

Festival

Gion Festival

A month-long Kyoto festival centered on Yasaka Jinja Shrine, with sacred rituals, food stalls and illuminated floats, ending in a grand procession and parade.

1–31 Jul 2027Kyoto

Festival

Sawara Grand Festival

Every July in Sawara, ten seven-metre floats crowned with giant dolls are spun through the streets of a preserved Edo-period merchant town, grazing the eaves.

10–12 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetKatori · Chiba

Festival

Nachi Fire Festival

One of Japan's three great fire festivals, where giant torches purify the path to Nachi Waterfall at a sacred Kumano shrine each 14 July.

14 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetWakayama

Festival

Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Shrine Annual Celebration And The Float Festival

Elaborate floats and traditional performances honor this port town's spiritual guardian, a shrine established in 1620 by local leaders.

20–21 Jul 2027Akita

Festival

Yamaage Festival

Karasuyama's largest festival pairs a nationally designated folk performance tradition with outdoor Kabuki dance, organized in rotation by six local districts.

24–26 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetNasukarasuyama · Tochigi

Festival

Hita Gion Festival

A traditional summer festival over 400 years old features large ornate floats adorned with embroidery, dedicated to a protective deity.

25–26 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetHita · Oita

Festival

Tenno Matsuri

A 600-year-old river festival in Tsushima, Aichi, each July: lantern-lit boats float down the Tenno River to flute music, honouring the deity Gozu Tenno.

25–26 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetTsushima · Aichi

Festival

The Hachinohe Sansha Taisai

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai combines traditional shrine processions with elaborately decorated floats and is recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

31 Jul – 4 Aug 2027Hachinohe · Aomori

Festival

Jantokoi Uozu Festival

Uozu's biggest summer event, the Jantokoi Uozu Festival brings UNESCO-listed Tatemon floats, folk dance, seaside fireworks, and jazz.

7–9 Aug 2027Exact date not confirmed yetUozu · Toyama

Festival

Kakunodate Festival

A traditional autumn festival with 400 years of history, held in September in Kakunodate, featuring large wooden floats decorated with samurai warrior dolls.

7–9 Sep 2027Exact date not confirmed yetSemboku · Akita

Festival

Kanuma Autumn Festival

An autumn festival held in October with origins tracing to a 1608 rainmaking ritual, featuring 27 ornately carved musical floats from the Edo period.

10–11 Oct 2027Exact date not confirmed yetKanuma · Tochigi

Festival

Yatsushiro Myoken Matsuri

A 390-year-old procession through Yatsushiro in Kumamoto, listed by UNESCO, with a turtle-serpent beast and nine canopied floats carried to a riverbank.

22–23 Nov 2027Yatsushiro · Kumamoto

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in Japan | Hey Japan!

What are Japan's UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage elements?

Japan has 23 elements on UNESCO's Representative List:

Performing arts: Nogaku (Noh) theatre, Ningyo Johruri Bunraku puppet theatre, Kabuki theatre, Gagaku, Kumiodori (traditional Okinawan musical theatre), traditional Ainu dance
Festivals and rituals: Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals; Furyu-odori ritual dances; Raiho-shin, ritual visits of deities in masks and costumes; Nachi no Dengaku at the Nachi Fire Festival; Mibu no Hana Taue rice-planting ritual; Sada Shin Noh; Oku-noto no Aenokoto; Hayachine Kagura; Akiu no Taue Odori; Dainichido Bugaku; Daimokutate
Crafts and skills: washi (hand-made Japanese paper); Yuki-tsumugi silk; Ojiya-chijimi and Echigo-jofu ramie fabric; the skills for conserving wooden architecture; traditional sake-making with koji mold (2024)
Food: washoku, traditional Japanese dietary culture, notably for New Year

Are the tea ceremony and ikebana on the list?

Which of them can I see as a visitor?

Festival

Chichibu Night Festival

An annual festival in Saitama featuring six ornate floats illuminated by thousands of lanterns, along with fireworks and traditional performances.

2–3 Dec 2026Chichibu · Saitama

Festival

Inuyama Festival

Historic shrine festival featuring thirteen elaborate floats equipped with mechanical puppets performing traditional ceremonies on the first weekend of April.

4–5 Apr 2027Exact date not confirmed yetInuyama · Aichi

Festival

Seihakusai Festival

This Ishikawa festival of over 1,000 years parades three huge wheeled floats with life-size Kabuki figures, recognised as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

3–5 May 2027Exact date not confirmed yetNanao · Ishikawa

Festival

Gion Festival

A month-long Kyoto festival centered on Yasaka Jinja Shrine, with sacred rituals, food stalls and illuminated floats, ending in a grand procession and parade.

1–31 Jul 2027Kyoto

Festival

Sawara Grand Festival

Every July in Sawara, ten seven-metre floats crowned with giant dolls are spun through the streets of a preserved Edo-period merchant town, grazing the eaves.

10–12 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetKatori · Chiba

Festival

Nachi Fire Festival

One of Japan's three great fire festivals, where giant torches purify the path to Nachi Waterfall at a sacred Kumano shrine each 14 July.

14 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetWakayama

Festival

Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Shrine Annual Celebration And The Float Festival

Elaborate floats and traditional performances honor this port town's spiritual guardian, a shrine established in 1620 by local leaders.

20–21 Jul 2027Akita

Festival

Yamaage Festival

Karasuyama's largest festival pairs a nationally designated folk performance tradition with outdoor Kabuki dance, organized in rotation by six local districts.

24–26 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetNasukarasuyama · Tochigi

Festival

Hita Gion Festival

A traditional summer festival over 400 years old features large ornate floats adorned with embroidery, dedicated to a protective deity.

25–26 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetHita · Oita

Festival

Tenno Matsuri

A 600-year-old river festival in Tsushima, Aichi, each July: lantern-lit boats float down the Tenno River to flute music, honouring the deity Gozu Tenno.

25–26 Jul 2027Exact date not confirmed yetTsushima · Aichi

Festival

The Hachinohe Sansha Taisai

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai combines traditional shrine processions with elaborately decorated floats and is recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

31 Jul – 4 Aug 2027Hachinohe · Aomori

Festival

Jantokoi Uozu Festival

Uozu's biggest summer event, the Jantokoi Uozu Festival brings UNESCO-listed Tatemon floats, folk dance, seaside fireworks, and jazz.

7–9 Aug 2027Exact date not confirmed yetUozu · Toyama

Festival

Kakunodate Festival

A traditional autumn festival with 400 years of history, held in September in Kakunodate, featuring large wooden floats decorated with samurai warrior dolls.

7–9 Sep 2027Exact date not confirmed yetSemboku · Akita

Festival

Kanuma Autumn Festival

An autumn festival held in October with origins tracing to a 1608 rainmaking ritual, featuring 27 ornately carved musical floats from the Edo period.

10–11 Oct 2027Exact date not confirmed yetKanuma · Tochigi

Festival

Yatsushiro Myoken Matsuri

A 390-year-old procession through Yatsushiro in Kumamoto, listed by UNESCO, with a turtle-serpent beast and nine canopied floats carried to a riverbank.

22–23 Nov 2027Yatsushiro · Kumamoto

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