With over 400 years of history, the Hanamaki Festival (matsuri) is one of the premier festivals in North Eastern Japan (Tohoku). The Deer Dancers (shishi odori) are a major part of the festival and attract thousands of visitors each year.

The festival is held on the second weekend of September each year, also in the festival are portable shrines (mikoshi) and floats (dashi) with drum and koto (a 3 string instrument) players. This year, with over 150 portable shrines, they set a world record for the most portable shrines at once.