Hanabata Park. The park's large central tree has also been lit up for the evening. (Photo: Yui Yamaguchi)

Mizuakari Festival in Kumamoto [Closed]

54,000 lights create a fantastic night festival

Justin Velgus   - 1 min read

Archived content

The location on this page has been reported permanently closed.

Last updated: Sep 16, 2020

Every year in October the Mizuakari Festival brightens the night with 54,000 lights lining Kumamoto City's Sakura-machi to Karashima Park.

Along both sides of the street, bamboo poles with varying patterns, resembling Australian aboriginal designs are placed into small holes. The lit up bamboo columns stretch continuously all the way to illuminate Kumamoto Castle.

Elementary and junior high schools also participate and the students' lanterns enhance the beauty of the festival. Their messages on some of the lanterns were so funny that some visitors burst out laughing.

In front of and around Kotsu Center tents are selling foods such as yakitori (grilled chicken skewers) and okonomiyaki (savory pancakes with various ingredients).

2015 Report

I was amazed at today's youth writing haiku poetry, with words such as spirit (魂) and peace (平和). Seeing these made me recall my memories of arts and crafts class during my elementary school years.

Justin Velgus

Justin Velgus @justin.velgus

Justin Velgus (ジャスティン ベルガス) is the Miyagi Prefecture expert for Japan Travel and a long-term contributor since 2012 with a focus on the Tohoku region.  Justin has written extensively for JT, and other publications such as VisitMiyagi and Sake Today, amassing over 350 published articles...