The Nagoya Tebasaki Summit Returns to Nagoya in June

Nagoya’s Chicken Wing Grand Prix Returns

Twenty wing shops and three days of sticky-fingered civic duty to determine the winner in Sakae.

Nagoya does not merely eat chicken wings — it convenes a summit.

The annual Tebasaki Summit® Collabo 12 returns to Hisaya-Odori Park from June 5–7, bringing wing shops together for a three-day public vote to decide this year’s best tebasaki (chicken wings). Visitors buy wings, receive a voting ticket, exchange it for a coin, and drop that coin into the box for their favorite shop.

It is democracy, but with bones, sauce, pepper, and probably not enough napkins.

The event began in 2014 in Atsuta Ward, the home ground of tebasaki karaage, and has grown into one of Nagoya’s most specific food festivals. The official 2026 guide lists 20 tebasaki booths, additional family and corporate booths, and a target attendance of around 150,000 people, following a reported 128,000 visitors over three days in 2025.

So no, this is not a small snack fair. This is Nagoya taking one of its bar-food icons and turning it into a public election.

Tebasaki — A Nagoya Specialty
Tebasaki karaage — deep-fried chicken wings seasoned with sauce, salt, pepper, sesame, or some dangerous combination of the above — is one of the pillars of Nagoya-meshi, (local Nagoya cuisine.)

The modern story of this local passion begins with Furaibo, the old-school standard. Furaibo’s style leans toward the sweet and salty side: fried wings, brushed with a “secret sauce,” finished off with pepper and sesame seeds. It is glossy, balanced, and dangerously easy to keep eating.

Then there is Sekai no Yamachan, the other great wing empire. Yamachan opened its first tiny shop in Shinsakae in 1981 and built its reputation on a sharper, pepper-heavy style. The wings are lighter, drier, saltier, and more aggressive. Furaibo feels like something you settle into. Yamachan feels like something that challenges you to order another beer — which is easy enough to do.

This is one of Nagoya’s harmless but enduring food divides. Some people are Furaibo people. Some are Yamachan people. Some claim to be neutral, which usually means they eat both and avoid eye contact during the argument.

The Tebasaki Summit takes that private argument and opens it up to the crowd.

What to Expect

The basic system at the annual “summit” is simple: eat, compare, vote.

Participating shops sell small portions so visitors can try several styles without committing too early. According to the official voting explanation, stalls generally offer portions of around one to five pieces, which makes it easy to split orders with friends and decide what to sample next.

When you buy wings from a participating vendor, you receive a voting exchange ticket. You take that ticket to the voting area, exchange it for a coin, and place the coin in the box for the shop you think deserves the Grand Prix. Voting is limited to one vote per person per day, and the results are announced on the final day.

The vendors take this competition seriously, which makes the event more interesting than a normal food festival. You are not just wandering around eating fried things in the heat — though you are absolutely doing that — you are judging.

You are forming sophisticated culinary opinions.

You are becoming the sort of person who says, “The sauce was good, but the skin lacked conviction,” like Anthony Bourdain sampling variations of frietje met as he strolls down the streets of Amsterdam, extolling the experience of eating high-fat, high-salt comfort food.

Tebasaki changes a person like that.

The Wings Themselves
While the 2026 vendor list has not been published yet, based on the annual Summit format, you can expect a broad range of tebasaki styles rather than twenty stalls doing the same thing.

You will likely find the classic Nagoya approach: crisp fried wings with sweet-salty tare, pepper, and sesame. You may also find spicier versions, regional sauces, citrus pepper, garlic-heavy styles, boneless versions, grilled or charcoal-finished wings, and entries that treat “tebasaki” less as a fixed recipe and more as a chance to cause a fuss.

That is part of the point. The Summit is not only about preserving Nagoya’s tebasaki tradition. It is also about seeing what happens when shops from different regions try to push the form. Nagoya may resist some of these experiments, but it is fun watching shops try.

Without a doubt, some wings will swing sweet. Some will go peppery. Some will be sticky, smoky, spicy, citrusy, or simply strange. Not all of them will be better than the classics. That is also part of the fun.

The Hall of Fame Shops
One useful thing to know before you vote:

Not every famous shop is necessarily competing.

This is part of the Tebasaki SummitHall of Fame system. Shops that have won enough times are moved out of the main Grand Prix field. They may still appear at the event, but votes for Hall of Fame shops do not count toward the competition.

That keeps the contest from becoming a permanent coronation of the same big names. It also means you can try the heavy hitters without wasting your vote on someone who isn’t eligible.

The Hall of Fame shops include major names such as Miyazaki Tebasaki Bancho, Sekai no Yamachan, Sagami, Katsubun Shoten, Kanazawa Tebasaki Chochin-ya, Bincho Ogiya, and Tenkaichi Tebasaki. So check before voting, especially if you are trying to back an actual contender.

How to Enjoy the Event
It will be crowded at some point, so it is best to go with at least one other person. Tebasaki is better shared, and the Summit is much easier if you can divide and compare. One person gets drinks, one person joins a queue, one person guards a precious patch of standing space. In other words — divide and conquer.

Start with small portions. The whole point is comparison. Do not blow your appetite at the first stall because the smell got to you. It will get to you.

That is what fried chicken wings are designed to do.

Our advice:

Bring cash. The official exhibitor guide says payment methods may vary by stall, with cash, shop-specific payment methods, and electronic money depending on the vendor. In real-life festival terms, this means cash is still the least annoying option.

Go early if you care about lines. Friday evening has the after-work crowd. Saturday will likely be the busiest. Sunday is shorter, and the final results give the day a bit of ceremony.

Hot tip: bring wet wipes. The event may provide bins and basic facilities, but tebasaki is not a tidy food. If your hands are still clean after three stalls, you are probably doing it wrong.

Not Just Another “Food Festival”

The Summit is fun because it is specific. Nagoya has plenty of big events, but this one has a clear local logic: a city famous for tebasaki invites everyone to argue about tebasaki — in public.

There is something very Nagoya about that. Practical. Food-focused. Slightly ridiculous. More serious than it looks.

And unlike some food events, this one gives visitors a role. You are not just a customer. You are part of the judging body, however lightly that responsibility sits on your sticky fingers.

So go hungry, bring cash, compare carefully, and vote with conviction.

Your preferred wing may not win. But in Nagoya, having an opinion about tebasaki is part of being a Nagoyan.