India, Sept. 18 -- If your Japan holiday package includes words like "cultural immersion" or "a window into the local way of life", it had better include a traditional festival or matsuri. From the grand performances of Hakata Dontaku in Fukuoka to the magnificent lantern displays at the Atsuta Festival in Aichi, these celebrations, observed countrywide, offer unrivalled insight into the country's identity and a path to understanding its customs.

For centuries, the Japanese calendar has turned on the rhythms of nature and belief like seasonal changes, Shinto rites, and Buddhist ceremonies - each marked with a colour, sound, and ritual of its own. The modern-day observations of these festivals, a few of which we list below in chronologica...