Tono City in Iwate Prefecture is known as the “city of folklore.” The Tono Dobekko Festival is held on weekends and other days annually from late autumn to March the following year at Tono Furusato Village. 

“Dobekko” is traditional unrefined sake prepared specially for the festival by Tono sake breweries. The festival allows you to enjoy mountain village foods, including duck hittsumi hot pot, yamame fish, oden stew, yaki-mochi rice cakes, and more, while sipping Dobekko. People who don’t drink alcohol can still fully enjoy the various events of Tono in winter including viewing traditional Kagura music and dancing passed down in Tono City, having a fun conversation with the man known as Kappa Ojisan, and listening to folklore in the Tono dialect.