Hakata Dontaku, one of Fukuoka’s biggest Golden Week events, returns with the theme “80 Years Since the Revival of Dontaku: Celebrating Again to Be Japan’s Best!” This year marks 80 years since the festival’s postwar revival. Derived from the Dutch word zondag (holiday), Hakata Dontaku attracts around two million visitors over two days in normal years. The festival opens with Hakata Matsubayashi, its 850-year-old origin, in which the Three Gods of Good Fortune ride on horseback, accompanied by a children’s procession, visiting more than 150 businesses and organizations to offer celebrations.
In the afternoons during the festival period, the “Dontaku Parade” takes place along a roughly 1,270 m stretch of Meiji-dori (from Gofukumachi to Tenjin), where teams from companies and organizations march together, drawing large crowds along the route. At 30 special venues across the city, citizens present a wide variety of stage performances. New this year, additional stages will be set up at ONE FUKUOKA BLDG. and the Nishi-Nippon City Bank Head Office Building, adding to the festive atmosphere that fills the city.
For details, see Fukuoka Now’s special feature, “Hakata Dontaku Guide.”
Photo provided by the City of Fukuoka
• May 3, 2026 (Sun., Hol), May 4, 2026 (Mon., Hol)
• Free viewing
• Fukuoka City (Google map)
https://www.dontaku.fukunet.or.jp/