The Hanyu Cherry Blossom Festival was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021 on account of the pandemic. They had a festival lite in 2022. In 2023, the 35th annual Hanyu Cherry blossom festival is more like a pre-pandemic year, with one main day of events and light up during the rest of the period of the festival.
Hanyu Cherry Blossom Festival
The 2023 Hanyu Cherry Blossom Festival will start this Saturday, March 18th, and runs until Sunday April 2nd. The main festival day is Sunday March 26th. On that day they have several different events beside Sakura Bridge. Currently there is no mention of mascots! Hanyu is famous for its mascot ‘summit’, which was formerly the largest mascot event in the world. Therefore, for most of Hanyu’s annual events there are always mascots involved! Or at least, before the pandemic, there were always mascots involved!
On the main festival event day, they give out free flowers in the afternoon for a short period, around 1 pm, to the first 200 people in line. They also have an all-you-can-grab sweet event from 2 pm. For 100 yen you can take as many sweets / candy as you can fit in the bag they provide you with. This event is held near the Sakura Bridge. It is limited to about 100 customers.
Light up
During the period of the festival the stunning and mature cherry blossoms along the Kasai Irrigation Canal will be lit up daily (weather permitting) by lanterns from 6 pm to 9 pm. That is an hour earlier than before the pandemic, when the lanterns were lit until 10 pm.
Information
Event: Hanyu Cherry Blossom Festival 羽生さくらまつり
Dates: Saturday March 18th to Sunday April 2nd 2023
Time: light up from 6 to 9 pm. Main event day, March 26th: 10 am to 3 pm.
Venue: around Sakura Bridge, 1 Chome-1 Higashi, Hanyu, Saitama 348-0052. View on Google Maps.
>>Find even more things to do in Saitama Prefecture this weekend.<<
Access
The canal is about a 10 minute walk from Hanyu Station.
During the period of the festival you can use the parking at the Hoken Center, except for on March 22nd and 29th.
Editor’s note: the Hanyu Cherry Blossom Festival was first published in 2017, but was temporarily off the website during the pandemic. It was republished on March 14th 2023.