Fall traditions: Bunkasai

Bunkasai is a culture festival held at schools around Japan annually. They are most often held in fall (autumn). For years, the majority of them were held on or close to Culture Day, a public holiday on November 3rd annually. However, in recent years many of the school culture festivals are held earlier in the second term of school. Some are even held in the first term of school.

I don't know why so many schools now have their culture festivals earlier in the year. Possibly, for senior high schools, its a way of promoting their school before the December deadline for new applications comes around. But that doesn't explain why several public junior high schools, that don't have to vie for new applications, have moved their culture festivals forward. Unlike Senior High School, admission to Junior High School is automatic if you are in the catchment area. 

Bunkasai at senior high school and universities are often on the weekend. This weekend was a big weekend for senior high school culture festivals in Saitama Prefecture on. There were dozens of bunkasai on. My Junior High School students went to a couple yesterday with their friends. It is a common practise for groups of friends to go to a bunkasai at a high school or University. Similarly, it is also common for families to visit one...

Today, we went to one as a family. The featured photo is of one of the photo props at the festival. Bunkasai are actually a really nice place to go as a family, because there are a lot of activities and entertainment. Its a fun half day out.  Furthermore, usually the food and drink on sale are very cheap. Moreover, if you have kids that will be going to Senior High School in Japan, it is a really good way to get the feel of a high school. 

Have you ever visited a bunkasai? @tonetoedo has even more information about bunkasai on her post "Culture Festivals at Schools". In the comments of that post, she shared a great resource for tracking the bunkasai at Universities: University Bunkasai Schedule.