Kyoto's calendar is genuinely built around its festivals, many with roots going back over a thousand years. Here's the shape of the year — exact dates for movable events are announced annually, so treat this as a planning map rather than a fixed schedule.
January: Hatsumōe
The first shrine or temple visit of the new year draws significant local crowds to Kyoto's best-known shrines in the first few days of January. See our winter guide for more.
February: Setsubun
Marking the traditional start of spring, temples and shrines around the city hold bean-throwing ceremonies (mamemaki) to drive out bad fortune — a lively, participatory event rather than a spectator one at many venues.
March–April: Sakura & hanami
Kyoto's most in-demand season — full detail in our sakura viewing guide.
May: Aoi Matsuri
One of Kyoto's three great festivals, a stately Heian-period-costumed procession moving between the Imperial Palace and the city's Kamo shrines — a strikingly different mood from Gion Matsuri's energy, more formal and processional than boisterous.
July: Gion Matsuri
The best known of the three, running the full month — full detail in our summer festivals guide.
August: Daimonji (Gozan no Okuribi)
The mountainside bonfires marking the close of Obon — also covered in the summer festivals guide.
October: Jidai Matsuri
The third of the "three great festivals," a procession of participants dressed in costume spanning every era of Kyoto's history in sequence, from the Heian period through to the Meiji Restoration — effectively a walking timeline of the city.
November: Kōyō
Autumn colour season — full detail in our autumn leaves guide.