List of Rock Festivals in Tohoku [2026]

College of Rock is a music event held twice a year—in summer and winter—in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture. As the name suggests, it’s a festival planned and run mainly by college students and other young people. In summer, it takes place on an outdoor stage set up at the Ishigami-no-Oka Museum, and in winter, it’s hosted across multiple live houses in central Morioka, featuring many young bands. There also appears to be an open application process, so if you’re in a band in the Tohoku region, why not give it a try and enter?

The Horseback Warrior Rock Festival is held every year in Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture. It began with the hope of creating a new festival so that people who left the city due to the earthquake disaster and the nuclear accident—those who evacuated—could return home at least once a year. I’ve heard there’s also a fireworks display on the day, making it feel just like a summer festival.

It’s a live circuit event hosted by radio station FM Sendai, organized in collaboration with the city of Sendai and local live music venues.

This is a music festival presented by “Kaze to Rock,” the radio program and free paper by Fukushima-born creator Michihiko Yanai, together with the Fukushima Minpo newspaper. Billed as a village-festival-style rock event, it features activities like imoni stew, campfires, and test-of-courage night walks, with a hallmark of close interaction between performers and attendees. The now-traditional imoni gathering looks set to energize Fukushima.