The 2024 edition - Yamagata's Imoni Festival! Let's go eat a big pot of Imoni!

  • Yamagata
  • Experience Gifu
Image courtesy of Japan's No.1 Imoni Festival Council

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 of the Imojikai, will be held on Sunday, September 15, 2024. We hope you will come and enjoy this dynamic Imojikai, which is worthy of the name "Japan's No.1!
Eat imoni on the riverbank under the refreshing autumn sky

An amazing event that 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, it was recognized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in the "Traditional Food for 100 Years: Local Cuisine from the Edo Period" category and received a special award from an expert in the field. Flavor varies from year to year, but apart from the 6.5 meter large pot of soy sauce-flavored sweet potato stew, we also cook salt-flavored sweet potato stew in a 3 meter large pot.
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 about 100 servings of taro stew can be scooped using this special backhoe, and it supports the largest taro stew festival in Japan, which is attended by many people every year. The taste varies from year to year, but apart from the 6.5-meter large pot of soy sauce-flavored taro stew, a 3-meter large pot of salt-flavored taro stew is also cooked.
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
Japan's No.1 Imoni Festival official website is here

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