Korankei Autumn Leaves 2026: Peak Dates, Light-Up and Getting There from Nagoya

Aichi Prefecture · Toyota City · Asuke · November maples

By Nobu · Sources checked 11 October 2026 · A researched planning guide: I have not visited Korankei, and nothing here is first-hand observation · Verified against the Toyota City Asuke Tourism Association’s 2026 festival, access, parking and lodging pages, Meitetsu Bus and Toyota Oiden Bus timetables from April 2026, tenki.jp and Weathernews forecast pages, the Japan Rail Pass site and NAOJ sunset tables

Korankei is a maple gorge on the Tomoe River in Asuke, Toyota City, reached from Nagoya by train and bus. The Asuke Tourism Association has set the 71st Korankei Momiji Matsuri for 1–30 November 2026, with the light-up every evening from sunset to 9 p.m. The usual peak is mid to late November; tenki.jp forecasts peak colour from 16 November. Go on a weekday if you can: the association warns that on November weekends and holidays the bus journey can take over two hours.

Jump to: When to go · Festival and light-up · Crowds and parking · From Nagoya without a car · By car · What’s there · Where to stay · Combine · FAQ

When are the Korankei maples at their best in 2026?

The Asuke Tourism Association says the colour usually peaks from mid to late November, “a little earlier or later depending on the year.” Two forecasters publish a date for Korankei:

The two forecasts are a week apart and may change, so check them again before you travel. Between them, the three sources point to the second half of November. For background on the forecasters, see who actually forecasts Japan’s autumn colours.

The association traces the maples to Sanei, the 11th priest of Koshakuji temple, who is said to have planted them in 1634 along the approach by the Tomoe River, reciting a sutra for each tree. The trees on Iimori-yama, the hill above, were planted from the end of the Taisho era into early Showa by local youth and women’s groups. It lists about 11 kinds of maple. On the number of trees, the association’s own pages say both about 3,000 and 4,000.

2026 Momiji Matsuri dates and light-up hours

The 71st Korankei Momiji Matsuri runs from Sunday 1 November to Monday 30 November 2026. The festival ground is Korankei Hiroba, the riverside square, and the park itself is open at all hours without a fee. The schedule below is from the association’s 2026 page, with its rain notes where it gives them.

The association describes the light-up as Iimori-yama turning gold, with the red of Taigetsu-kyo bridge and the lights reflected in the Tomoe River. For timing, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan lists sunset in Nagoya at 16:58 on 1 November, 16:47 on 15 November and 16:41 on 30 November 2026: before 5 p.m. all month.

Evenings in a river valley in late November are cold; what to wear in Japan in November has a section on night light-ups.

How bad are the crowds, traffic and parking?

The association’s access page says it plainly: on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays in November, traffic jams can make the bus journey take more than two hours, so please come on a weekday. In 2026, November holidays fall on Tuesday 3 and Monday 23 November.

Car-park names and sizes are from the operator’s page for fiscal 2026; the fee and the no-reservations line are from the association’s 2026 festival page. The association’s detour map for 2026 was still “in preparation” on 11 October, with last year’s map shown in its place. Tour buses are asked to follow set routes from 14 to 30 November between 9:00 and 17:00.

Getting to Korankei from Nagoya without a car

The association lists three ways by public transport. Each ends with a bus to the Korankei stop: Meitetsu Bus from Higashi-Okazaki or Toyotashi, Toyota Oiden Bus from Josui, a station on the Meitetsu Toyota Line. None of the buses is JR. The times and fares in this table are the figures printed on the association’s English access map dated 1 April 2025; the map notes that times change with traffic, and the figures don’t include waiting for the bus.

Fares change: Meitetsu Bus has applied for approval to raise its fares from 1 December 2026. Check the operator’s fare before you travel.

The association’s access page gives the Higashi-Okazaki bus as about 70 minutes, a little longer than the map. On the 2025 map’s normal-day times, the Higashi-Okazaki route adds up to about an hour and a half each way before any wait, which fits a day trip from Nagoya; in November, check the November bus timetable and the association’s weekend traffic warning first, and the return times if you want to stay for the light-up (below).

Bus times: the April 2026 timetables

The association says the November bus timetables differ from the usual ones; its links for the November Meitetsu Bus and Oiden Bus timetables said “in preparation” on 11 October 2026. It labels the April 2026 Oiden Bus timetable as the one for months other than November, and Meitetsu’s own timetable search notes that it doesn’t show temporary timetables for events. The times below are therefore the April 2026 timetables, not the festival ones: use them to see the pattern, then check the November timetables when they appear.

Set against the light-up, which ends at 21:00, the last departures from Korankei on these April 2026 timetables are:

• To Higashi-Okazaki, 18:48 every day: before the lights end. The association also notes there is no weekday bus back to Higashi-Okazaki after 19:00.
• To Toyotashi, 20:40 every day: before the lights end.
• To Josui, 21:08 on weekdays: after the lights end; 20:12 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays: before.

The 21:08 weekday Oiden Bus is the only April-timetable bus after 21:00; that doesn’t guarantee you can watch to the end, reach the stop in time, or connect onward at Josui.

Whether the November timetables keep, add or drop any of these was not published on 11 October 2026. Until they are, don’t count on a bus after the light-up. A local taxi firm, Hinode Taxi (0565-62-0064), has its stand behind the Korankei bus stop, in the car park of the Toyota City Asuke branch office.

Whether a pass pays off for your whole route is worked through in JR Pass vs individual tickets in 2026.

Driving to Korankei

The association’s access page lists four exits, with its own distance and time estimates (it gives no festival-time figures):

• Toyota-Matsudaira IC (Tokai-Kanjo Expressway): Prefectural Road 39 towards Iida, 14 km, about 20 min.
• Toyota-Kanpachi IC (Tokai-Kanjo Expressway): Route 153 towards Iida, 13 km, about 20 min.
• Kuragaike IC (Tokai-Kanjo Expressway): Prefectural Road 343, 11 km, about 15 min (the festival page says 12 km).
• Chikaraishi IC (Sanage Green Road): Route 153 towards Iida, 9 km, about 15 min.

The Tokai-Kanjo Expressway is now ETC-only. NEXCO Central Japan switched Toyota-Matsudaira and Toyota-Kanpachi to ETC-only on 15 April 2025, and from 9 April 2026 every interchange on the road became ETC-only, as Norimono News reported. Without an ETC unit and card, the association says to use Toyota IC on the Tomei Expressway. If you rent, ask for an ETC card with the car.

What’s there: the gorge, the temple, the hill and the old town

Korankei got its name in 1930 from Motoyama Hikoichi, then president of the Osaka Mainichi newspaper: “ko” from Koshakuji and “ran” for the cool air over the Tomoe River, according to the association.

Asuke, the town next to the gorge

Korankei sits at the edge of Asuke, a post town on the road that carried salt from Mikawa Bay inland to Shinshu and Mino, according to the association. It says the townscape runs for about 2 km and was rebuilt after a fire in 1775 with plastered merchant houses; in June 2011 it became the first district in Aichi Prefecture chosen as a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The festival’s free DENKEN stamp rally (see the table above) uses three of its historic buildings.

Where to stay for Korankei

The association’s lodging page (checked 11 October 2026) lists six places to stay in Asuke itself: Kobatoya, The Ninja Mansion, Maruhachi (まる八), Yamashiroya Ryokan (山城屋旅館), Tamadaya Ryokan (玉田屋旅館) and Hyakunenso (百年草), the stop where the Oiden Bus terminates. It lists Koran-tei (香嵐亭) as closed indefinitely from 1 February 2025. The same page lists hotels in the wider area, including in Toyota City. They are given here as the association lists them, not ranked or reviewed.

That matters for the light-up. On the April 2026 timetables the only bus back from Korankei after 21:00 is the 21:08 weekday Oiden Bus to Josui, and the November timetables were not out on 11 October. Staying in Asuke removes the last-bus problem, but check each place’s distance from the light-up, the walk back at night and its check-in times. If you day-trip from Nagoya instead: the association’s routes all start from stations reached from Nagoya, and Meitetsu Nagoya and JR Nagoya stations are in the same station complex, per its access map.

Combining Korankei with the rest of a November trip

Outside November the gorge is green: the association describes summer visitors cooling off in the shade and playing in the river, and katakuri (dogtooth violet) flowering from mid-March to early April.

FAQ

Sources