Matsumoto Castle Ice Sculpture Festival 2027: Dates, Schedule and How to Plan

When is the Matsumoto Castle Ice Sculpture Festival 2027?

Provisionally Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31, 2027. Link Matsumoto, the event calendar run by Matsumoto’s shopping-street federation, lists the festival as three days (令和9年1月29日〜31日), with carving on Saturday, January 30 into early Sunday and the display on Sunday, January 31, all marked 予定 (planned). The city’s tourism site, Visit Matsumoto, already has a placeholder page titled “国宝松本城氷彫フェスティバル2027,” and hotel listings say “late January 2027.” The festival’s own page, matsumoto-kacchin.jp/ice-festival, still showed the 2026 information when we checked on October 30, 2026, so the times on this page follow the official 2026 schedule until the 2027 one is out.

Is that later than usual? Slightly. The festival is timed around 大寒 (Daikan, “Great Cold,” around January 20), and from 2022 to 2026 the championship Saturday fell between January 22 and 28:

A carving Saturday of January 30 would be the latest in this run, which is one reason to treat the dates as likely but not locked. Our advice: book refundable rooms for both Saturday, January 23 and Saturday, January 30 now, then cancel the one you don’t need once the official schedule is out.

What happens at the festival?

There are three parts, and they run on different clocks:

1. 全国氷彫コンクール チャンピオンシップ (National Ice Sculpture Championship), Matsumoto Castle Park. This is the main event. Two-person teams of professional carvers, many of them hotel ice-carving specialists, turn large blocks into sculptures overnight. The official 2026 schedule on matsumoto-kacchin.jp ran live carving from 4:00 p.m. on January 24 to about 5:00 a.m. on January 25, with the display from about 5:00 a.m. to around 2:00 p.m. and a note that the display time may be shortened because of weather. Some secondary listings gave a 5:00 p.m. start or a 3:00 p.m. finish, so treat the times as approximate. The works are lit up once they’re finished in the early morning.
2. 全国氷彫コンクール プレイベント (Pre-Event Competition), Hanadokei (Flower Clock) Park, next to the former PARCO building. A contest for young carvers, mainly those with under about five years’ experience. In 2026 they carved on Friday from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m., and the works stayed on show until around 2:00 p.m. Sunday. Shinano Mainichi Shimbun counted three teams of six carvers. This is the best spot for a Friday-night preview.
3. 街中展示 (town displays). Pieces carved earlier in the week at several spots around the city center. For 2027, Link Matsumoto lists Matsumoto Station square, the Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Kura-Chic-Kan in Nakamachi and Chitose Bridge, on show from Friday, January 29. The official 2026 venue list also included the Otemon Masugata ruins square (大手門枡形跡広場), alongside Matsumoto Castle Park, Hanadokei Park, Kura-Chic-Kan, the Museum of Art and the station square.

Around these, on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (2026 timings), there’s a stage on Sotobori-ōdōri, the street south of the castle, with street performers, jazz, dance, taiko and photo sessions with the Nagano mascot Arukuma. There’s also a soap-carving workshop, kitchen cars and food stalls, and a jumbo ice slide of about 20 m in the park.

Who competes, and who has won?

• 2026: 10 groups (Matsumoto Keizai Shimbun). The gold, silver and special-prize pieces were shown in the park, but we couldn’t find a published list of winners.
• 2025: 14 teams of 28 carvers (Shinano Mainichi Shimbun). The theme was “きらめき・喜び・飛躍” (sparkle, joy, leap). Gold went to Yoshifumi Kosaka and Yoshiki Katsurada of the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa (Tokyo) for 「氷游の喜び」 (“The Joy of Swimming Through Ice”). The hotel says Kosaka was also selected to carve ice at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, which gives a sense of the level here.
• 2024: 13 teams of 26 carvers, theme 「未来」「躍動」 (“future” and “dynamism”). Gold went to 「深海のうたげ」 (“Deep-Sea Banquet”), jellyfish and rays by Kōichi Hirata and Kengo Akabaneme.
• 2023: About 12 teams. Gold went to 「大地に生きる」 (“Living on the Earth”).

How are sculptures judged?

Teams carve to a theme set by the organizers, and judges award gold, silver, bronze and special prizes after the night’s work. The organizers don’t publish an English rulebook, and we haven’t seen the full judging criteria. What you can see for yourself is that the pieces are judged as finished, lit works on Sunday morning, which is when they look their best.

Hour-by-hour: the festival weekend (2027, provisional)

Built from the Link Matsumoto 2027 listing plus the official 2026 timetable and the 2025 pattern. The organizers confirm exact times in January; in 2026 the detailed schedule came out on January 19.

Why should you go early on Sunday morning?

Because the ice is at its best in the first few hours. Hoshino Resorts’ local Matsumoto guide says that as the temperature rises, the ice gradually loses its transparency, melts and cracks, so go as early in the morning as you can. Shinshu.net’s festival page agrees: the sculptures look best early on Sunday, and in warm years the display can end early in the afternoon. The official 2026 schedule carried the warning “※天候等により展示時間が短くなる場合があります” (the display time may be shortened because of weather and other conditions). In a cold year, like the 2026 cold wave the city called “good conditions for the ice,” pieces can hold up well all day. In a mild year with direct sun, fine details such as feathers, fins and fingers go first.

The other reason is crowds. A Visit Matsumoto citizen-reporter blog noted that at 9:00 a.m. on snowy festival Sunday in 2026 there were “still few people” at the castle. Mid-morning to early afternoon, when the slide and stage are running, is far busier.

Can I see the ice sculptures and the projection mapping on the same night?

Yes, on Saturday evening. The 2026–27 Matsumoto Castle projection mapping runs from December 12, 2026 to February 14, 2027, 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. nightly, free. Each show lasts about 12 minutes (a 9-minute main show and a 3-minute sub show), and there are three different main shows across the season. On festival Saturday you’ll see carvers at work under the keep while the projection plays on the castle. On Friday you can pair the projection with the lit pre-event pieces at Hanadokei Park. You can’t see the finished championship sculptures together with the projection, because they aren’t finished until Sunday at dawn and are gone by Sunday evening.

The festival, the projection mapping and the city-center illuminations are marketed together as 松本かっちん – 光と氷の城下町まつり (“Matsumoto Kacchin” – Festival of Light and Ice in the Castle Town), the umbrella brand the city launched in winter 2025–26.

What about the Keep Night Tours?

Since 2022, Matsumoto has run a small number of guided night tours inside the castle keep, sold only as part of a stay at participating hotels. In 2026, the fifth year, there were eight tour nights: January 23, 24, 30 and 31 and February 6, 7, 13 and 14 (Fridays and Saturdays), 5:45 to 7:00 p.m., with a cap of 20 people per night. Plans were sold through seven hotels: Alpico Plaza Hotel, Ace Inn Matsumoto, Hotel Iidaya, Hotel New Station, Matsumoto Hotel Kagetsu, Matsumoto Marunouchi Hotel and Mingei Ryokan Fukashiso. Hotel New Station priced its room-only plan with the tour at ¥12,500 per person. Shinano Mainichi reported that some 2025 dates sold out.

2027: not announced by October 30, 2026. In 2025 the tourism association said plans would go on sale from mid-to-late November, so watch for them around then, and check whether a tour night falls on Friday, January 29 or Saturday, January 30, which would make for a very good festival weekend. The keep isn’t heated, so dress for outdoor temperatures inside; the stairs reach a 61° pitch.

How cold is it, and what should I wear?

Very cold, and colder than many English-language guides suggest. Matsumoto sits at about 600 m in an inland basin. The JMA 1981–2010 normal for January’s average daily low is −5.2°C (23°F). Visit Matsumoto’s official weather page gives January’s average city low–high as −3.7 to 6.3°C and warns that “市街地でも最低気温がマイナス10℃以下になることが珍しくありません” (even in town, lows of −10°C or below are not unusual). Late January is statistically the coldest stretch of the year. Between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, which is exactly when you want to be there, expect −5 to −10°C (23 to 14°F), possibly with snow underfoot (it snowed overnight before the 2026 display).

What we’d pack for dawn:

• A thermal base layer top and bottom, a fleece or light down mid-layer, and a windproof insulated parka
• Insulated, grippy boots. Park paths and the moat edges get icy.
• A warm hat, neck gaiter and touchscreen gloves plus over-mitts for photography
• Stick-on heat packs (カイロ, kairo), sold at every convenience store
• Spare phone and camera batteries kept in an inside pocket, because cold drains them fast
• Slippers or thick socks for the keep. You take your shoes off inside, and the wooden floors are freezing. Our winter guide covers the cold keep.

Photography tips: how to shoot the ice

• Blue hour beats midday. The 30–45 minutes before sunrise give you lit ice against a deep-blue sky and the dark keep. It’s the shot to plan the morning around.
• Backlight the ice. Stand so the light (sunrise or the colored LEDs) comes through the sculpture, not from behind you. Clear ice glows when lit from behind and looks flat when lit from the front.
• Use the castle as the backdrop. Get low and frame the sculpture against the keep. A wide lens or the phone’s 0.5× setting helps.
• Expose for the highlights. Lit ice blows out easily, so dial exposure down by −0.7 to −1 EV.
• Bring a small tripod or rest your camera on something for dawn shots. Check on the day whether tripods are allowed in crowded areas, and be considerate.
• Watch the carving on Saturday night with a fast shutter to freeze flying ice chips under the floodlights.
• Mind condensation. Moving from −8°C into a warm café fogs lenses, so put your camera in a zip bag before you go inside.

Is it good for kids?

Yes, mainly during the day on Saturday and Sunday. The ice slide of about 20 m is the big draw, along with mascot photo sessions, street performers and the workshop, and many families come from 10:00 a.m. onward. The slide and food booths were cancelled in 2022 and 2023 for COVID reasons, and they’re never guaranteed in advance; Matsumoto Keizai Shimbun confirmed both were back in 2026.

How crowded does it get?

At dawn it’s quiet, and late morning on Sunday is busy. This is a local winter festival, not Sapporo, so even at peak you can see the sculptures. Rooms are the bigger limit: the festival weekend falls inside the projection-mapping season, which also draws visitors, and Matsumoto has a limited stock of central hotels. Book early.

How does it compare with other Japanese ice and snow festivals?

Our take: if you’re flying to Hokkaido anyway, Sapporo wins on scale. Matsumoto is the only one of these where you can watch the competition being carved overnight and then see the results at dawn in front of a 400-year-old National Treasure, and the only one you can reach from Tokyo by train in an afternoon. A Hokkaido trip in early February and Matsumoto in late January don’t clash. Lake Shikotsu’s opening weekend (January 30–31) falls on Matsumoto’s provisional weekend.

How do I get there?

• From Tokyo: the Limited Express Azusa runs direct from Shinjuku to Matsumoto. The fastest service takes 2 hours 29 minutes (the 4:00 p.m. Azusa from Shinjuku, arriving 6:29 p.m., per tabiblo007), most others take 2 hours 30–50 minutes, and a reserved seat costs ¥6,730 according to NAVITIME. Our Tokyo to Matsumoto Castle guide compares trains and buses.
• From Matsumoto Station: a 15–20 minute walk to Matsumoto Castle Park, or the Town Sneaker loop bus (North Course), about 10 minutes to “Matsumoto Castle/City Hall Front.” Kita-Matsumoto Station on the JR Ōito Line is under 10 minutes on foot.
• By car: about 15–20 minutes from Matsumoto IC on the Nagano Expressway. There’s no festival parking, so use paid lots in the city. Winter tires are essential.
• For dawn on Sunday, buses won’t help you: stay within walking distance of the castle.

Where should I stay?

Our pick: the castle side of town (Ōte, Marunouchi, Nakamachi), within a 10-minute walk of the park. That makes 5:45 a.m. on Sunday a short walk.

• Station area: the most choice and the easiest for trains, 15–20 minutes’ walk from the castle. Several of the 2026 night-tour hotels (Hotel New Station, Hotel Iidaya, Alpico Plaza Hotel, Ace Inn Matsumoto) are here.
• Near the castle and Nakamachi: the best spot for dawn. There are fewer rooms, so they go fast.
• Onsen option: Asama Onsen and Utsukushigahara Onsen are 15–25 minutes by bus or taxi. They’re good for thawing out, but less practical for dawn on Sunday unless you have a car. Our projection mapping guide has the last buses back to both.

How do I combine it with a visit to the castle keep?

The keep is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., last entry 4:30 p.m., every day except December 29–31, and admission is ¥1,300 for a paper ticket at the gate or ¥1,200 for a timed e-ticket (children aged 6–15 ¥400), per the Matsumoto Castle official site — visitor information. Timed e-tickets have been on sale since April 2025. Inside takes about 45–60 minutes. On festival Sunday the e-ticket saves time: do the dawn ice walk, have breakfast, then go straight into the keep at opening with your time slot booked. Our New Year hours guide covers the holiday closures, and the winter guide covers the rest of the season.

Sample festival weekend itinerary (2027, provisional)

Friday, January 29

• Afternoon: train from Tokyo; check in near the castle.
• Evening: watch the young carvers finish at Hanadokei Park (lit from about 8:00 p.m.), then catch the projection mapping (6:00 to 10:00 p.m.). Have soba or sanzokuyaki for dinner.

Saturday, January 30

• Morning: climb the keep at 8:30 a.m. with an e-ticket, or join the Matsumoto Castle Tour & Samurai Experience ($86, 4.9/5 from 187 reviews) if you’d like a guide and a sword lesson. Walk Nakamachi and Nawate streets, and see the town ice displays at the Museum of Art, Kura-Chic-Kan and the station square.
• Midday: stage shows and the ice slide; lunch at the food stalls.
• Afternoon: thaw out at a café or a day-use onsen.
• 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.: watch the championship carving begin, with the projection mapping running behind it. Early night.

Sunday, January 31

• 5:30 to 7:30 a.m.: finished sculptures at dawn. This is the main event.
• Breakfast, then an optional second look in daylight.
• Late morning: head off to the snow monkeys or on to Takayama and Shirakawa-go, or take the train back to Tokyo after lunch. The winter guide’s day trips cover both.

Day-tripping from Tokyo? It works, but take the earliest Azusa on Sunday and go straight to the park. Arriving around 10:00 or 11:00 a.m., you’ll still see the sculptures, softer and more crowded. Don’t come on Friday expecting the main show.

The downsides

• The dates aren’t official yet, and the organizers publish detailed schedules late (in 2026, on January 19).
• The window is short. The championship sculptures are on show for about nine hours on one day.
• It’s bitterly cold at the best viewing time.
• It depends on the weather. Warm sun shortens the display, and heavy snow can soften detail.
• It’s modest in scale compared with Sapporo: roughly 10–14 championship pieces plus the town displays.
• Some English-language guides get it wrong. We’ve seen listings with the wrong dates and “10:00–22:00” opening hours. The championship sculptures are not on show until 10:00 p.m.

History: how long has the festival been running?

The festival is Matsumoto’s longest-running winter event. Matsumoto Keizai Shimbun called the 2009 edition the 23rd and the 2013 edition the 27th. A city press release called 2022 the 35th, after 2021 was cancelled because of COVID, and Shinano Mainichi Shimbun called 2025 the 38th. Counting back, the first festival was held around 1987, which would make 2026 the 39th and 2027 the 40th edition (our calculation, not yet confirmed by the organizers). It nearly ended once: the 2018 edition was billed “THE FINAL,” but it was redesigned and continued. A committee including Matsumoto City and the Matsumoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry organizes it.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Matsumoto Castle Ice Sculpture Festival 2027?

Provisionally Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31, 2027, with the championship sculptures on display on Sunday, January 31. In 2026 the display ran from about 5:00 a.m. to about 2:00 p.m.; the official 2027 schedule usually comes out in mid-January.

Is the Matsumoto ice festival free?

Yes. The sculptures, the ice slide, the stage events and the castle projection mapping are all free. The castle keep costs ¥1,200 (e-ticket) or ¥1,300 (gate).

What time should I go?

Sunday at dawn, roughly 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. The ice is clearest, the light is best and the crowds are smallest.

Can I watch the carving?

Yes. Championship carving takes place outdoors in Matsumoto Castle Park from Saturday afternoon (4:00 p.m. in 2026) through the night.

Are the sculptures there on Saturday?

The championship pieces aren’t, because they’re carved on Saturday night. On Saturday you’ll see the young carvers’ pre-event works at Hanadokei Park and the town displays.

How long do the sculptures last?

In 2026 the championship pieces were shown until about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, and the organizers warned that weather could shorten the display. Town-display pieces may last longer in cold weather; in 2026 a pre-event piece was still intact after two days.

Is there an ice slide?

In 2025 and 2026 there was a jumbo ice slide of about 20 m in Matsumoto Castle Park during the day on Saturday and Sunday. It hasn’t been confirmed for 2027.

Can I see the projection mapping the same weekend?

Yes. It runs nightly from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. from December 12, 2026 to February 14, 2027, and it’s free.

How cold will it be?

Plan for −5°C to −10°C (23 to 14°F) at dawn. The JMA normal January low is −5.2°C, and Visit Matsumoto warns that lows of −10°C or below are not unusual even in town.

Is it worth it compared with Sapporo?

For castle and ice reachable by train from Tokyo, yes. For sheer scale, Sapporo (February 4–11, 2027) wins.

Where can I check official updates?

matsumoto-kacchin.jp (festival site), visitmatsumoto.com (city tourism), Link Matsumoto, and Matsumoto City’s Tourism Brand Division (0263-34-8307).

The 2027 dates come from the Link Matsumoto event calendar (marked 予定, planned); the official festival site, matsumoto-kacchin.jp, still showed the 2026 edition when we checked on October 30, 2026, and the 2026 times on this page are from its official schedule. Projection-mapping dates are from Visit Matsumoto, castle hours and prices from the official Matsumoto Castle site, past results from Matsumoto Keizai Shimbun, Shinano Mainichi Shimbun and the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa, and the Hokkaido festival dates from the Sapporo Snow Festival FAQ, Hokkaido Love! and Chitose tourism. For the rest of the year, see our guide to the best time to visit Matsumoto Castle.