Yamagata's Imoni Festival in 2025! Let's go eat a big pot of Imoni!

  • Yamagata
  • Experience Gifu
Image courtesy of Japan's No.1 Imoni Festival Council
The "Imoni Festival" is loved by local people as an autumn tradition mainly in the Tohoku region. Japan's No.1 Imoniikai Festival is held every September in Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture, and as the name suggests, the scale of the event is the largest in Japan! In this issue, we will introduce the schedule, events, and things to do at Japan's No.1 Imoniikai Festival 2025.

Speaking of autumn in Yamagata, a taro stew party is held on a riverside.

Everyone knows that the soul food of Yamagata Prefecture is "imoni" (stewed potatoes). In autumn, it is a regular event for people in Yamagata Prefecture to get together with family, relatives, friends, or company social gatherings and have a taro stew party at a riverbank. Some supermarkets offer free rental of a set of tools for a taro stew party during the taro stew party season, and the culture of this event is deeply rooted in the community. The "Japan's No. 1 Imojikai Festival," the parent event of the Imojikai, is scheduled to be held on September 14, 2025 (Sunday). We hope you will come to this dynamic potato stew festival, which is worthy of the name "Japan's No.1!
Scheduled to be held on Sunday, September 14 this year!
Japan's No.1 Imoni Festival official website is here

Yamagata's Imoni Festival actually holds a Guinness record.

Japan's No.1 Imojikai Festival started in 1989, and the 30th festival in 2018 was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the "Most Soup Served in 8 Hours," to our surprise. In 2022, the festival will be recognized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as one of the "100 Years of Traditional Foods". In 2022, the festival was recognized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in the "Traditional 100-Year Food Category: Local Cuisine Continuing from the Edo Period" and received a special award from the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Enjoy the delicious sweet potato stew!

Everything is dynamic! Outstanding scale!

The pot used at Japan's No. 1 Imoni Festival is a giant pot with a diameter of 6.5 meters. It is nicknamed "Nabetaro," and the pot currently in use is the third generation Nabetaro. This giant Nabetaro cooks approximately 30,000 meals at once. The cooking method is also dynamic, and heavy equipment, a "mobile crane specification machine/backhoe," is used, and sanitation is strictly controlled. Before the potato stew, the parts are disassembled into small pieces and thoroughly cleaned, and butter is used as lubricant. It is said that the amount of taro stew that can be scooped using this special backhoe is enough for about 100 servings, and it supports the largest taro stew festival in Japan, which is attended by many people every year.
Backhoe specially designed for the Imoni Festival

Visit Japan's No. 1 Imoni Festival this autumn!

Imoni is an autumn delicacy in Yamagata. Imoni is loved by local people as an autumn tradition, especially in the Tohoku region. Why don't you take this opportunity to taste the best imoni in both taste and scale in Japan?
Imoni Man, the image character of Japan's No.1 Imoni Festival
"Imoni Man" illustration
Japan's No.1 Imoni Festival X official account
Japan's No.1 Imoni Festival Instagram official account

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