The Amekko Festival is a Little New Year celebration with a history of over 400 years, and there is a legend that eating candy on this day will prevent you from catching a cold.

At the festival grounds, numerous street vendors sell a wide variety of colorful candies, each with its own unique twist, attracting many tourists from both within and outside the prefecture who come to purchase them.

Visitors can enjoy a variety of events, including the “White Beard Great God Procession”—a reenactment of the legend in which the “White Beard Great God” comes down from nearby Mount Tashiro to buy candy—as well as hands-on experiences like making stick candy.

There are also plenty of popular attractions, such as the “Akita Inu Parade” featuring members of the Akita Inu Preservation Society and their dogs, and the nostalgic “Karamame Candy Tasting”!

In 2026, we held a visitor-participation event called the “Shirahige Okami Procession Flag-Bearer Experience.”

⇩For more details⇩

大館アメッコ市！旗持ち体験参加者募集中☆

For the 2027 Odate Amekko Festival, we’re recruiting participants for the “Maru-mage Procession,” a winter tradition!

Maru-mage is a custom in the Odate-Kitaaki region where married women celebrating their 33rd birthday (by the traditional Japanese counting system) mark the occasion by wearing a black tomesode kimono and a maru-mage hairstyle.

⇩For more details⇩

大館アメッコ市で丸髷行列体験参加者募集！

*Please note that traffic restrictions will be in effect around the venue.

[⇩Google Maps⇩]

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?mid=1Oam_8c8kO76seKf5eQM5fyl7ah6lEzU&usp=sharing