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Kanuma Yatai Village Streets
鹿沼屋台のまちTochigi · Kanto
In Kanuma, "yatai" means not food stalls but towering wooden festival floats, carved head to toe with dragons and mythical beasts by the same Nikko-trained woodworkers who built Toshogu. Twenty-seven of these floats belong to the old merchant quarters and come out only for the Kanuma Autumn Festival on the second weekend of October, when rival crews pull them nose to nose for "buttsuke" music duels — a ritual inscribed by UNESCO in 2016 among Japan's 33 float festivals. The rest of the year, three of the floats sit under glass in the exhibition hall at Yatai-no-machi Chuo Park, alongside the restored Kikusuien garden. The streets themselves are simply open town, best walked to read the neighbourhood names on the float storehouses.
- Best season
- Year-round
- Crowd level
- Hidden gem
- Rating
- 3.9· 113 reviews
- Opening hours
- Mon Closed Tue–Sun 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
- Admission
- Free. Public old-town streets preserving festival-float culture; walking the district is free.
- Nearest station
- Shin-Kanuma Station · 15 min walk
Usual hours — confirm with the official site for holidays + seasonal closures.
Today
9:00–17:00Tue closedMon closedFreeStored weekly hours
Mon Closed Tue–Sun 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Seasonal hours
- The floats come out on the streets only for the Kanuma Autumn Festival, the second Saturday and Sunday of October (2026: Oct 10–11).
Admission
- These hours are the Yatai-no-machi Chuo Park float exhibition hall (last entry 16:30, admission ¥200), NOT the streets — the old-town streets are public and always walkable.
Note
- The hall also closes the day after any public holiday, opens when a Monday is a holiday, and shuts over year-end/New Year.
How to get there
From Tokyo Station · ~1h 51m by car
Tags
craftsfestival cultureold townwalking
Location
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