This is a special 2-day/1-night tour guided by a fireworks specialist and a Sake brewery worker. You will experience traditional rural Japan, enjoy the enchanting mountain fireworks of the Katakai Festival, one of the three major fireworks festivals in Tohoku, and spend a day tasting the sake that Niigata Prefecture boasts of its rice and water, famous in Japan. On this tour you will meet the locals and visit unique places that you cannot go anywhere else.
DAY 1: The Katakai Festival and Fireworks
The Katakai Festival, an annual summer event held in Ojiya City, Niigata Prefecture, is renowned for its grandeur and beauty. The star of this festival is undoubtedly the Yon-shaku-dama firework, one of the largest firework shells in the world.
The Katakai Festival traces its roots back over 400 years. It symbolizes unity within the community and expresses gratitude to the deities for bountiful harvests, safety, and well-being.
The highlight of the festival is the launching of the Yon-shaku-dama, with a diameter of roughly 1.2 meters, weighing about 420 kilograms. This colossal firework ascends to a staggering height of about 800 meters, illuminating the night sky with an explosion of vibrant colors. A true spectacle.
However, the Katakai Festival is not just fireworks. The festival brims with local music, traditional dance, regional cuisine, and a bustling atmosphere filled with communal fervor. It represents a vibrant expression of local culture, offering an exceptional opportunity to fully experience the beauty of Japan.
The Katakai Festival presents a once-in-a-lifetime experience to witness Japan's traditions and the grandeur of the fireworks at the same time. Engage with the true beauty of Japan and be part of these awe-inspiring moments.
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Katakai Festival
Every firework at the Katakai Festival is donated by individuals or groups. Their names are displayed on Banzuke boards at the venue, honoring their contributions to the event's grandeur.
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Mikoshi
This Festival features Tama Okuri, where groups parade symbolic firework shells to the shrine, marking important life milestones. Accompanied by vibrant floats, this festive tradition ignites community spirit and excitement.
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Yatai
There are also yatai, pop-up food stalls often seen at Japanese festivals, offering a wide variety of local cuisines. These provide a unique and authentic gastronomic experience amidst the festival celebrations.
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Fireworks
Katakai Festival's fireworks are dedicated with personal messages and explode with a booming sound. The fireworks launching site behind a small hill acts as a natural reflector, amplifying the thunderous bursts for an exhilarating experience.
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The starmine
The Starmine is a type of rapid-firing fireworks display. The Katakai classmates have been accumulating funds every year to set off a firework that combines multiple fireworks and shoots dozens to hundreds of massive balls in a short period of time. They set off these fireworks at milestones in their lives.
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Yonshaku-dama Fireworks
The Katakai Festival's highlight is the Yonshaku-dama, the world's largest firework. It rockets 880 meters skyward, exploding into a spectacular 800-meter bloom. A truly awe-inspiring sight!
❊ Optional
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Your heartfelt message will be announced at the venue before the fireworks display. Your message will also can be printed on Banzuke, as a souvenir of this event.
Price (depend on the size):
No.4: 10,670 JPY
/No.5: 16,280 JPY
/No.7: 33,880 JPY
Shakudama: 71,940 JPY
/Starmine: from 220,000 JPY
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- In accordance with the tradition of the Dedication Fireworks, the fireworks will be launched as scheduled even in the event of rain. In the event of a typhoon, a warning, or wind speeds of 10 m or higher, the festival will be postponed.
❊ Other destinations
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Lunch in Kominka
"Kominka". An old folk house
An old folk house that was built 120 years ago was relocated in 2001 and stands in this area.
The earthen floor where you enter the entrance is an atrium, and you can't help but hear your voice at the magnificent persimmon beams.
There is a hearth and a large kettle door in the dirt floor, and if you eat Uonuma Koshihikari while holding a maki in this kamado, you can feel the sweetness of the rice so much that you don't need a side dish.
If you go up from the tap, there is also a hearth room here. It is what we now call a tea room. And there are 4 Japanese-style rooms. The veranda that surrounds the room, especially the western veranda, is wide and is a perfect space to look at the idyllic fields from the mountains of Echigo in the distance.
You can also experience cooking in a furnace and grilling edges using a hearth.
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Echigo Kawaguchi Hot Springs
After enjoying lunch, take it easy.
Or you can enjoy Open-air bath ! Everyone loves It.
We will guide you to the hot springs on the same premises. Bring your amenity bag.
【Spring quality】Sodium chloride strong salt hot spring
In addition to general indications, it is effective for chronic dermatitis, cuts, burns, chronic gynecological diseases, and frail children.
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- It is a spring quality that easily penetrates the body and has a high moisturizing and heat retention effect.
【Temperature of Source of hot spring】54.3℃
Number of sources: 1
Hot water volume: 390 liters
Drinking: Not possible
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- "Private Bath" is available at JPY 3,000 for 90min. (advanced booking is needed)
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Experience Making Onigiri
You will make rice balls, known as onigiri, with local mothers to eat at the fireworks site at night.
The rice used to make the onigiri will be made from Koshihikari rice, which is grown with the blessings of nature and spring water. This rice is highly valued and considered rare, as it is additive-free and difficult to find in ordinary stores.
The rice grown in this region is cultivated at high altitudes with ample spring water and a significant temperature difference between day and night.
This results in shorter rice grains with a thick and firm texture. The rice has a distinct sweet taste that intensifies as you chew, and the grains are larger in size.
DAY 2: The Full Sake Experience at Asahi-Shuzo Sake Brewing Co., LTD
Niigata Prefecture is often nicknamed The Land of Rice due to its ideal climate. Rice cultivation is nurtured by fertile clayey soil transported downstream via the Shinano River and further ameliorated by the region’s heavy snowfall, which supplies the fields with irrigation water when the snow melts.
Even now, Niigata is said to be the largest producer of rice in Japan and home to the largest number of sake breweries.
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Asahi Shuzo Sake Brewing Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1830 in Asahi, Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, a region of rice fields and forested mountains. For over 190 years, our company has been brewing sake using soft water from an underground vein in our area, high-quality sake rice that has been cultivated through extensive research with local farmers, and technological innovation based on the wisdom and basic research passed down from the Koshiji Touji ilk. They continue to brew sake with sincerity and insist on using only Niigata-grown ingredients.
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Learn about sake brewing
For generations, people here have taken advantage of the abundant resources around them. As their skill grew, so did their reputation. So much so that the Echigo Toji guild — master brewers of the Echigo, or Niigata region — is recognized as one of the great three brewing guilds of Japan. At Asahi-Shuzo, we are blessed with not one, but two Echigo Toji, ensuring our sake is in safe hands.
We harness these brilliant natural resources — rice, water and people — to continuously develop and produce a vast range of outstanding sake. On this tour, you will learn from them about traditional Japanese sake brewing!
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Brewery Tours
Guided walk around the brewery where visitors can see the facility and learn about the brewing process. This experience offers the rare opportunity to try genshu, or undiluted sake brewed in this brewery, Shorai Brewery.
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Shoraikaku Villa
Built in the early 20th century by Asahi-Shuzo’s founder, Yonosuke Hirasawa, this elaborate structure with art deco accents still serves as an important cultural center today.
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Special Experiences - 1
Many people are aware that Japanese food goes very well with Japanese food. But, see for yourself how sake can be enjoyed with NON-Japanese snacks.
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Special Experiences - 2
Niigata is the biggest producer of rice in Japan. One of the most famous table rice is Koshihikari, but did you know special rice is used to brew sake. Kubota is made with Gohyakumangoku, let’s see the difference.
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ECHIGO TOJI (MASTER BREWER)
At Asahi-Shuzo, we have two master brewers that are of Echigo Toji ilk. They are determined to not only to create the best sake possible, but also to study and research sake making techniques for future generations. The Echigo Toji distinction is an important one. Though there are over 30 toji guilds in Japan, the Echigo Toji of Niigata Prefecture, together with Nanbu (Iwate Prefecture) and Tanba (Hyogo Prefecture), is one of Japan’s three great master brewer guilds, and considered a particularly special distinction.
MOTOYOSHI YAMAGA (Left)／RYOSAKU OHASHI (Right)
