The Hanamaki Festival is the third biggest festival in Iwate, which has been going on for over 430 years at this point in time. It is held every year on the second Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of September, making the town of Hanamaki come to life. It started at the end of the 16th century, in honour of Nobichika Kita, the founder of Hanamaki. One interesting fact about the Hanamaki festival is that people can enjoy a world record-holding portable shrine parade, in which over one hundred can be seen. The record was set in 2015, when 114 Mikoshi (portable shrines) were displayed.

The Festival's main attraction and feature are the amazingly decorated floats, which can reach a number of over one hundred parading. These floats can take months to build and decorate, being made out of papier-mache, and they look absolutely amazing when they are seen at night. However, the floats are not the only attraction as the Hanamaki Festival also contains traditional dances like the Shishi Odori (Dear Dance) and the Hanamaki Bayashi Odori. The Shishi Odori is known to be a more rhythmic and upbeat dance, and its use of drums, while the Hanamaki Bayashi Odori is known to be more elegant. All of these characteristics in the end attract a huge number of visitors, making it the third biggest festival in Iwate, as mentioned before.