(sometimes shortened to ) is Japan’s largest cultural festival which aims to provide the Japanese public with the opportunity to present various cultural activities. There is an emphasis on activities by local performers to motivate individuals to participate in cultural activities, encourage culture, inspire the development of local culture and enrich the lives of the people. These events are hosted by the

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The ag ...

and the

prefectural A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

or municipal government, cultural organizations or other related organizations. Shin Koyamada played the lead character of Makibi featured during the on-stage opening ceremony of

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...

2010 ( The 25th National Cultural Festival Okayama 2010), which was held in

Momotaro Arena is an indoor sporting arena located in Okayama, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Ja ...

on October 30, 2010.

Features

*Overall festival: includes an opening festival which indicates the direction of new trends in amateur cultural activities *Symposiums: keynote lectures, panel discussions, and other events which explore diverse topics related to trends in Japanese culture, including amateur and regional cultural activities *Genre-specific festivals: Performances, exhibitions, and other events are presented (with a focus on groups nominated by prefectural governments) in genres such as

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

orchestral An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

and choral music, brass-band music,

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, arts,

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

traditional Japanese music Traditional Japanese music is the folk or traditional music of Japan. Japan's Ministry of Education classifies as a category separate from other traditional forms of music, such as (court music) or (Buddhist chanting), but most ethnomusicolog ...

and every-day culture. *Cooperative festivals: those complying with the objectives of the National Cultural Festival and hosted by local governments, culture-related groups, corporations and other organizations nationwide. They consist of performances, contests, festivals, exhibitions, classes, and other events.

Host prefectures

*1986 -

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

(1st Festival) *1987 - Kumamoto (2nd) *1988 - Hyogo (3rd) *1989 - Saitama (4th) *1990 - Ehime (5th) *1991 -

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

(6th) *1992 - Ishikawa (7th) *1993 - Iwate (8th) *1994 - Mie (9th) *1995 - Tochigi (10th) *1996 -

Toyama Toyama may refer to: Places and organizations * Toyama Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan located in the Hokuriku region on the main Honshu island * Toyama, Toyama, the capital city of Toyama Prefecture * Toyama Station, the main station of Toyama, ...

(11th) *1997 -

Kagawa may refer to: * , the smallest prefecture of Japan by area, located on the island of Shikoku * , a district in Kagawa Prefecture * , a town located in Kagawa District * , train station in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture * Kagawa (surname) Kagawa (w ...

(12th) *1998 - Oita (13th) *1999 -

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

(14th) *2000 -

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

(15th) *2001 - Gunma (16th) *2002 - Tottori (17th) *2003 - Yamagata (18th) *2004 -

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

(19th) *2005 -

Fukui is a Japanese name meaning "fortunate" or sometimes "one who is from the Fukui prefecture". It may refer to: Places * Fukui Domain, a part of the Japanese han system during the Edo period * Fukui Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan located in ...

(20th) *2006 - Yamaguchi (21st) *2007 -

Tokushima is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 728,633 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the north, E ...

(22nd) *2008 - Ibaraki (23rd) *2009 -

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

(24th) *2010 -

(25th)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website of the National Cultural Festival
(Japanese)
Official website of the Agency for Cultural AffairsOfficial website of the 25th National Cultural Festival Okayama 2010
Festivals in Japan Festivals established in 1986 Cultural festivals in Japan

Features

Host prefectures

See also

References

External links