JANUARY

Ganjitsu (or Gantan ): January 1. On the first day of the year everyone heads for the shrines to pray for good fortune (national holiday).

Yamayaki : January 15. The slopes of Wakakasu-yama, Nara, are set alight during a grass-burning ceremony.

Seijin-no-hi (Adults' Day): second Monday in January. Twenty-year-olds celebrate their entry into adulthood by visiting their local shrine. Many women dress in sumptuous kimono (national holiday).

FEBRUARY

Setsubun : February 3 or 4. On the last day of winter (by the lunar calendar), people scatter lucky beans round their homes and at shrines or temples to drive out evil and welcome in the year's good luck.

Yuki Matsuri : February 5-11. Sapporo's famous snow festival features giant snow sculptures.

National Foundation Day : February 11 (national holiday).

MARCH

Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival): March 3. Families with young girls display sets of fifteen dolls ( hina ningyo ) representing the Emperor, Empress and their courtiers dressed in ancient costume. Department stores, hotels and museums put on special exhibitions of antique dolls.

Spring Equinox : March 20 or 21 (national holiday).

Cherry-Blossom festivals : late March to early May. With the arrival of spring in late March, a pink tide of cherry blossom washes north from Kyushu, travels up Honshu during the month of April and peters out in Hokkaido in early May. There are cherry-blossom festivals, and the sake flows at blossom-viewing parties. Though every area has its own favoured cherry-blossom spots, the most celebrated are the mountains around Yoshino (near Kyoto), Tokyo's Ueno Koen and Hirosaki on the tip of northern Honshu.

APRIL

Hana Matsuri : April 8. Buddha's birthday is celebrated at all temples with parades, and a small statue of Buddha is sprinkled with sweet tea.

Takayama Matsuri : April 14-15. Parade of ornate festival floats ( yatai ), some with acrobatic marionettes.

Greenery Day : April 29 (national holiday).

MAY

Constitution Memorial Day : May 3 (national holiday).

Kokumin no Shukujitsu : May 4 (national holiday).

Kodomo-no-hi (Children's Day): May 5. The original Boys' Day now includes all children as families fly carp banners, symbolizing strength and perseverance, outside their homes (national holiday).

Aoi Matsuri (Hollyhock Festival): May 15. Costume parade through the streets of Kyoto, with ceremonies to ward off storms and earthquakes.

Tosho-gu Grand Matsuri : May 17. Nikko's most important festival, featuring a parade of over 1000 costumed participants and horseback archery to commemorate the burial of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1617. Smaller-scale repeat performance on October 17.

Sanja Matsuri : Around May 18. Tokyo's biggest festival takes place in Asakusa. Over 100 mikoshi are jostled through the streets, accompanied by lion dancers, geisha and musicians.

JULY

Hakata Yamagasa : July 1-15. Fukuoka's main festival culminates in a five-kilometre race carrying or pulling heavy mikoshi , while spectators douse them with water.

Tanabata Matsuri (Star Festival): July 7. According to legend, the only day in the year when the astral lovers, Vega and Altair, can meet across the Milky Way. Poems and prayers are hung on bamboo poles outside houses.

Gion Matsuri : July 17. Kyoto's month-long festival focuses around a parade of huge floats hung with rich silks and paper lanterns.

Marine Day : July 20 (national holiday).

Hanabi Taikai : last Saturday in July. The most spectacular of the many summer firework displays takes place in Tokyo, on the Sumida River near Asakusa.

AUGUST

Nebuta and Neputa Matsuri : August 1-7. Aomori and Hirosaki hold competing summer festivals, with parades of illuminated paper-covered figures, like huge lanterns.

Tanabata Matsuri : August 6-8. Sendai holds its famous Star Festival a month after everyone else, so the lovers get another chance.

Obon (Festival of Souls): August 13-15, or July 13-15 in some areas. Families gather around the ancestral graves to welcome back the spirits of the dead and honour them with special Bon-odori dances on the final night.

Awa Odori : August 12-15. The most famous Bon odori takes place in Tokushima, when up to 80,000 dancers take to the streets.

SEPTEMBER

Respect-for-the-Aged Day : September 15 (national holiday).

Autumn Equinox : September 23 or 24 (national holiday).

OCTOBER

Okunchi Matsuri : October 7-9. Shinto rites mingle with Chinese- and European-inspired festivities to create Nagasaki's premier celebration, incorporating dragon dances and floats in the shape of Chinese and Dutch ships.

Sports Day : second Monday in October (national holiday).

Kawagoe's Grand Matsuri . October 14 and 15. One of the most lively festivals in the Tokyo area, involving some 25 ornate floats and hundreds of costumed revellers.

Jidai Matsuri : October 22. Kyoto's famous, if rather sedate, costume parade vies with the more exciting Kurama Matsuri , a night-time fire festival which takes place in a village near Kyoto.

NOVEMBER

Culture Day : November 3 (national holiday).

Shichi-go-san (Seven-five-three): November 15. Children of the appropriate ages don mini-kimono and hakama (loose trousers) to visit their local shrine.

Labour Thanksgiving Day : November 23 (national holiday).

DECEMBER

Emperor's Birthday : December 23 (national holiday).

Omisoka : December 31. Just before midnight on the last day of the year, temple bells ring out 108 times to cast out each of man's earthly desires and start the year afresh.

Note : if any of the above national holidays fall on a Sunday, then the following Monday is also a holiday.