Shizuoka Festival

The Shizuoka Festival is held every year on the first Saturday and Sunday in April at Sunpu Castle Park and around the city center. It is a citizens' festival that started in 1957 in response to the Hatsukaesai Festival at Sengen Shrine, which has a history and tradition of over 450 years. It is held around the Sunpu Castle Park and the city center and is popular among the citizens as a festival held when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, following the legend that Tokugawa Ieyasu took his vassals to Sunpu to view the cherry blossoms. With the main Ogosho Hanami Parade in which leaders go out to view the cherry blossoms, followed by the Sunpu Tojo Parade, the "Night Cherry Blossom Dance and Sakura Dance under the Castle", and the Ogosho Viewing Tezutsu Fireworks, a picture scroll of the Sunpu era unfolds. At night, the cherry blossoms blooming in Sunpu Castle Park will be illuminated and lanterns will be lit up, creating a fantastic sight different from the bustling daytime atmosphere.