27 Dezome Shiki firefighter festivals this year in Saitama

Twenty-seven (27) places for Dezome Shiki, a New Year Firefighter festival of sorts, in Saitama Prefecture in 2026.

I am a huge fan of firefighters the world over. And have been very fortunate to work with the Japanese fire brigade on several occasions during my years in Japan. I have a sincere and deep admiration of every single man and woman who is drawn to this honorable vocation. Therefore, the dezome shiki firefighter celebration is an event I feel very passionately about. If you are in Japan over the New Year, I highly recommend checking out this only-in-Japan event. Especially one that has hashigo-nori, which is acrobatics on bamboo ladders! Many of these festivals are on for the first time in years. First they were cancelled during the pandemic, then in 2024 they were cancelled so the brigades could go aid those effected by the January 1st earthquake in Noto.

Firefighter Festival

In recent years Dezome Shiki is often translated as New Year Firefighter Ceremony, but when I first came to Japan the term New Year’s Parade of Firefighters was most commonly used. However, many of them are really more like a festival than a parade or ceremony. We try to attend a firefighter festival every year out of respect for fire fighters and gratitude to the fire department. Bonus: it is a really fun family day out! Dezome is one of the those uniquely Japanese traditions that it can’t be translated into just one word. Literally, it means “first performance”or “debut”. It is usually written with shiki for ceremony. It is most commonly used for the first fire fighter’s ceremony and celebration of a New Year.

I’ve been to several dezome shiki firefighter festival over the years and they really are all quite different. For example, some have parades, some don’t, some have hashigo-nori (ladder acrobatics) some don’t etc. Generally most of them have some sort of ceremony and / or blessing followed by a demonstration of the skills and work of fire fighters. All are entertaining, but some more entertaining than others! Whatever way you want to describe it, dezome shiki firefighters festival is well worth seeing at least once in your lifetime. Even the smallest of dezome shiki have some entertainment and not just a blessing of the fire fighters. Most have rescue vehicles on display and some type of rescue demonstration at the very least.

Saitama Prefecture Firefighter Festivals in 2026 埼玉県出初式　令和8年

Here is a list of ten places you can see a fire fighter festival in Saitama this New Year and every New Year. The dates will change for some of them each year. But some of them have a fixed annual date, which I highlight when applicable. The dates in the table below are specifically for 2026. Below the quick list with 27 places for dezome shiki, there is a summary of ten of them. But please do check with the official websites before going out the door, because the weather and other mitigating factors can cause last minute changes, even cancellations. For example, in 2024 many of the ceremonies were cancelled, last minute, because the fire brigades helped with the Noto Peninsula earthquake relief.

Dezome Shiki with their own post

First up seven Dezome Shiki that have their own event post:

1. Kumagaya City Dezome

2. Tokorozawa City

3. Kawajima Dezome Shiki and

4. Kawagoe Dezome Shiki

Kawajima Town is part of the Kawagoe fire brigade, hence the information comes in a pair:

5. Omiya, Saitama City Dezome

6. Iruma City Dezome Shiki

7. Tsurugashima / Sakado combined Festival

The information for the Tsurugashima and Sakado fire brigade’s annual celebration is contained within the post about Wakaba Walk. Wakaba Walk mall hosts the event every year:

Even more Dezome Shiki

8. Sayama City

The Sayama City Dezome Shiki is most often on the Saturday of the January public holiday weekend. Last year, 2025, it was on at Irumagawa Nico Nico Terrace for the first time. From now on I presume it will be Nico Nico Terrace. Generally, fourteen fire trucks are on display and there are several demonstrations including one with a helicopter. They also have a water jet demonstration. Nico Nico Terrace has a really nice Starbucks with a playground!

9. Misato

Misato City used to have an English language web page for the event, but unfortunately, its gone since 2022. I took this from the website in 2019:

Special performances by the firefighters, Kiyari (work song for carrying heavy logs) and Hashigo-nori (acrobatic performance atop ladders) by Misato Tobi Association (scaffolders), demonstrations by children/ students of municipal elementary / junior high schools, appearance of MIKA+RIKA the Misato City PR ambassador, and more

Misato City website

10. Asaka City Dezome

The Asaka City firefighters new year celebration is on around the Asaka City Hall. Like several other of the dezome shiki, it may not go ahead in the event of rain. This is normally a particularly nice one for kids because they usually have an interactive corner from around noon to around 1:00 pm. The “Firefighting Team Fureai Hiroba” allows children try discharging water and / or explore a fire engine, ride a fire rescue car and they have photo ops too.

11. Toda City Firefighter parade

The ceremony of the first firefighter appearance of the New Year is on in the parking lot of Toda City Hall. As such, if the weather is inclement, it may not be able to go ahead as scheduled. There is no ‘hashigo-nori’ at this dezome shiki. But they have a parade of firefighters and vehicles, and demonstrations of water fighting and helicopter rescues as well as jetting water, as you can see in the photo above. This year’s information:

12. Kasukabe Dezome Shiki 春日部市出初式

Kasukabe has confirmed they will have a dezome shiki, but unfortunately they have only released the date so far. Their ceremony is usually on coming-of-age day, a public holiday annually in Japan. In previous years, there was a procession of approximately 180 firefighters. They had demonstrations such as how to operate a pump car and rescue training using a helicopter. Finally,they have a water jet demonstration into the river creating a colorful arch of water. They actually spray different colors of water at this ceremony as you can see in the photo above.

I hope you can make it to a firefighter festival aka dezome shiki near you this year. Please note heavy rain and / or snow fall will effect the line up of these events. Please do check with the official websites for any last minute changes.

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The above photo is a stock photo from Pixabay. I took the featured photo at the top of the post at the Kawagoe Dezome Shiki.

Editor’s note; Republished 20221222 and 20231226 Original dezome-shiki-saitama Republish of original with new URL January 4th 2025.