Nagano Ebisuko Fireworks Festival 2026 Confirmed

長野えびす講煙火大会 — Nagano (Koshinetsu)

The Nagano Ebisuko Fireworks Festival is Japan's great cold-weather show: 10,000 shells on November 23 in mountain air so clear and dry that colors cut sharper than any summer festival. It is famous among enthusiasts for its two-company starmine duel — Nagano's finest pyrotechnicians answering each other program for program — and for the giant wide starmines that close it.

Background

Held since 1899 as part of the Ebisuko merchant festival, it has run for well over a century and built its reputation on being a craftsman's show: late-season, high-precision, watched in winter coats.

Getting there

The venue is the Sai River sports field southwest of the city; shuttle buses run from JR Nagano Station (Hokuriku Shinkansen, about 80–100 minutes from Tokyo), or it's a 30-minute walk.

Tips

• Dress for near-freezing: down jacket, gloves, insulated footwear and a thermos change the whole experience.
• The clarity of late-autumn air genuinely improves the fireworks — photographers rate Ebisuko's conditions the best in Japan.
• November 23 is a national holiday; trains back to Tokyo run late enough for a same-day return if you book the last Shinkansen ahead.
• The starmine duel in the middle of the program is the connoisseur's highlight — don't step away for food during it.