Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival
The Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival is Tokyo's largest and oldest fireworks display, held on a Saturday evening in late July. Around twenty thousand shells are launched from two sites on the Sumida River in the old downtown between Asakusa and Kuramae, and the first site opens with a competition in which leading pyrotechnic companies each present an original piece to be judged. The setting is what makes it: shells burst above Senso-ji temple, the Azumabashi bridges and Tokyo Skytree, with the crowd packed onto riverbanks, bridges and rooftops. It draws roughly a million spectators. The event is the direct descendant of the Ryogoku river-opening fireworks first staged in the Edo period as a memorial for famine and epidemic victims, which makes it one of the oldest continuously observed fireworks traditions in the world. The exact evening is announced by the organising committee each year and the display is called off or postponed in bad weather, so confirm before travelling.
Event information
| When | Usually held in late July; check the official site for the latest schedule |
|---|---|
| Where | Tokyo |
| Access | The two launch sites sit on the Sumida River between Sakurabashi and Komagatabashi, in the Asakusa and Kuramae area. Asakusa Station (Ginza, Asakusa, Tobu and Tsukuba Express lines), Kuramae, Honjo-azumabashi and Tokyo Skytree Station all serve the viewing area, and every one of them is heavily restricted for crowd control on the night. |
| Schedule status | Check the official site |
| Official information | Open the official site |
Practical tips
- Free riverbank space is claimed from the morning and the best stretches are full by early afternoon. If you arrive in the evening, expect to watch standing in a moving crowd rather than sitting.
- Asakusa hotels with river-facing rooms and restaurants with terrace seats take reservations months in advance for this night. Book early or plan to watch from a public spot.
- Police close off streets and run one-way pedestrian routes around Asakusa. Getting back to a station after the finale takes well over an hour, so agree on a meeting point in case your group is separated.
- Quieter alternatives with a partial view include the Kuramae and Ryogoku riverside, and the parks slightly upstream near Sakurabashi.
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