Hiroshima Flower Festival

The Hiroshima Flower Festival is a three-day festival held every year from May 3 to 5, during Japan's Golden Week holidays, on Peace Boulevard and in Peace Memorial Park in central Hiroshima. It started in 1977 as a celebration of peace, and it is one of the largest annual events in Hiroshima Prefecture. Entry is free.

The 2027 festival is the 50th, and the organizing committee has set it for May 3 to 5, 2027. In 2023, the festival moved to June 10 and 11 because of the G7 summit in May, so check the dates on the festival committee website before you book travel.

What to see at the Hiroshima Flower Festival

The flower parade

The main parade runs on the first day, May 3. More than 90 groups and over 7,000 people march along about 1.2 kilometers of Peace Boulevard, with costumes and floats decorated in flowers. The route starts near the Takaramachi intersection at the east end of the boulevard and heads west toward Peace Memorial Park.

Stages and booths

Around 30 stages run for all three days, with roughly 600 groups performing dance and music, from taiko drumming to kagura. About 80 booths fill the green strips of the boulevard and the Peace Park. Along the side roads, around 130 food stalls sell food from around Japan and abroad.

The Flower Tower

The festival's symbol is the Flower Tower, an 8-meter tower covered in about 8,000 pots of carnations, petunias and other flowers. It is lit with flame taken from the Flame of Peace in Peace Memorial Park. Local schools and groups also grow flowers for the Peace Flower Project, and the pots are displayed in the park during the festival.

The final-day performance parade

On the last day (May 5), the Performance Parade takes over. It replaced the long-running Kinsai YOSAKOI Parade. Eight 70-meter, 360-degree stages are set up along the boulevard for yosakoi teams, dance groups and baton troupes. For the festival's origins and how its traditions grew, read the history and traditions of the festival.

Where the festival takes place

Everything happens on and around the 100-meter-wide Peace Boulevard, which is closed to traffic for the festival. The western end meets Peace Memorial Park, where the Flower Tower and some of the main stages stand.

Visiting the festival is an easy way to combine a walk through the Peace Park grounds with the city's biggest celebration.

How to get to the Hiroshima Flower Festival

• By tram: lines 2 and 6 run from Hiroshima Station to Genbaku Dome-mae in about 13 minutes, for a flat 240 yen. Walk south through Peace Memorial Park to the boulevard.

• On foot: the Hondori shopping arcade leads from the city center to the edge of the Peace Park.

Driving is not practical, since the boulevard is closed and nearby roads are busy. Expect full trams during the parade.

Crowds and hotels during Golden Week

Book a hotel early, because the festival falls in Golden Week, one of the busiest travel periods in Japan. Arrive well before the parade to find a curbside spot on Peace Boulevard. In most years, committee records put attendance at between 1.2 and 1.8 million people over the three days, and the boulevard is most crowded on the afternoon of May 3.

If you are planning a spring trip, see Hiroshima through the seasons to compare the festival with cherry blossom time in early April.