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Iwate

Cultural discoveries from Hiraizumi to Morioka

About Iwate
Photo: 中尊寺金色堂 – Rie Ono / CC BY-NC 2.0

Top Attractions in Iwate

Iwate Top 10

Upcoming Iwate Events

Hiragasa Naked Pilgrimage 2026

Hiragasa Naked Pilgrimage 2026

Thursday - Jan 8th

Held each winter in Iwate's Hachimantai City, the Hiragasa Naked Pilgrimage is one of Japan's more unusual cold weather..

Free Entry
Miyako Pacific Cod Festival 2026

Miyako Pacific Cod Festival 2026

Late Jan

The Miyako Pacific Cod Festival presents an opportunity to try this fish served in various ways, including as fish and chips and..

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Where to eat in Iwate

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About Iwate

Okinawa Nagasaki Fukuoka Saga Kumamoto Kagoshima Miyazaki Oita Ehime Kochi Tokushima Kagawa Yamaguchi Hiroshima Okayama Tottori Shimane Hyogo Kyoto Osaka Wakayama Nara Shiga Mie Fukui Ishikawa Toyama Gifu Aichi Nagano Shizuoka Niigata Yamanashi Kanagawa Tokyo Saitama Gunma Tochigi Chiba Ibaraki Fukushima Miyagi Yamagata Iwate Akita Aomori Hokkaido
Region Tohoku
Island Honshu
Capital Morioka
Population 1,330,147
Area 15,275.01 km²

Iwate Prefecture (岩手県, Iwate-ken) is perhaps most famous for Chuson-ji and Motsu-ji, which are two of the five sites that make up the World Heritage Site “Historic Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumi.”

Iwate is enjoyable any time of the year - ski at Appi Ski Resort in the winter, marvel at Tenshochi’s cherry blossoms in the spring, swim in the pristine waters of Jodogahama Beach and cool down in Ryusendo Limestone Cave in the summer, and hike at Mount Iwate while being surrounded by fall foliage in autumn.

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