Comprehensive list of festivals?

I've been to many festivals around Japan that never make any lists but have been wild, fun, interesting, nuts and confusing. I think i'm missing many, many more that are very local because you never hear about them.
This may be a bit of a long shot considering there are supposed to be over 100,000 festivals every year in Japan BUT does anyone know where there is a fairly comprehensive list? I've found lists of up to 100 but when you are traveling for a month and traversing the country, those sorts of lists become a little useless.
Yes, I could go to the individual council sites of where I'm traveling to see what they have but that is by no means complete and is very time consuming AND I could miss a great festival in a nearby town.
Preferably lists with names, dates and locations.
Any guidance would be appreciated.
I haven't got a time of year and definitive itinerary, hence the need for a comprehensive list.

Cheers!

I would also like a list, and I can give you a link to a list larger than the one at Japan-Guide, but I will have to warn you about it.

Here is the list from Geisha-Gold. I was compiled in 2008:

http://www.geishagold.com/maiko2festivals.htm

I try to use this to go to Matsuyama Haru Matsuri (April 4-6th) last year, only to find that I was 2 days early. The festival was actually held on April 6-8th last year, which is a Friday, Saturday, Sunday. My guess is that Geisha-Gold should have listed the festival as the first weekend in April.

My guess is that the list at Geisha-Gold was accurate in 2008, when it was compiled. It is a starting place, and you can then go on individual city websites to verify actual dates.

When I went to Izumo Taisha (Izumo Grand Shrine) there was a festival on the train, of all places. It was the 100th aniverary, of the Ichibata railway. There was a local singer in the front of the train, and about 8 booths set up on one side of the two car train.

I also went to Chichibu last year, and did the 34 temple pilgrimage. I have aquired the paperback "Chichibu, Japan's Hidden Treasure" which was published in 1990. It has 41 pages in it dedicated to the festivals around Chichibu, but it is 23 years old, and I will only use it as a guide.

It was not listed in the book, but I did come across a spring celibration at temple 24, which involved 20 or so people in a circle passing a huge set of prayer beads.
I was asked if I wanted to ring the temple bell after one of the chanting sessions, and I did. This is not the famous bell that was used to signal the rebellion of 1884, which is at Temple 23.

On Saturday, April 21st; while sitting on a bus going to Temple 31 of the Chichibu Pilgrimage, our bus "encountered" a local showing of the Spring Festival float for Oshika-Jinga. The parade pulled to one side of the street to let us through. In the Chichibu book, the festival was 12 and 13th, so what I encountered was the local parade that the book said was supposed to occur on the 12th.

So, on my trip last year, I missed one festival, and ran into three others.

So, even if you get this list of 10,000 festivals, it will probably have some inaccuracies. Some of the fun is runnign into these festivals.

Sounds like you've had a lot of fun discovering the weird and wonderful festivals of Japan. I too have run into random festivals and parades but they have generally been suburban omikoshi type parades which are still nice when you don't expect them.
Thanks for the link, much better than anything else that i've found. I'm not too fussed about the dates being wrong by a day or 2. I can look through the list and then double check the current dates when I find something i like.
Not wanting to sound ungrateful but it's still only got a few hundred on the list. I still hold out some hope of finding a much more comprehensive list...hopefully.

Just as an FYI, the list of 100 festivals can be found here:
http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/the-big-Japanese-festival-guide

There are also these ones:
http://web-japan.org/atlas/festivals/festi_fr.html
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/rtg/pdf/pg-805.pdf
http://ease.com/~randyj/rjevents.htm

Aah, these links are very helpful, thanks.

I appreciate the Japan Guide lists only major festivals, that people may go out of their way to attend.

But as you say, what I'm hoping for is a much wider list which includes far smaller festivals... so that if any are near to the itinerary I was already planning, I can tweak it to attend them too.

One more list of festivals to add to the list
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/events/festival-listings/

Osaka has its own extensive list/archive of festivals and events:
http://www.osaka-info.jp/jp/search/list/event.php

What makes it difficult is that every town has its own town festivals, sometimes districts also have their own festivals, but beyond that, many festivals are not associated with the town/city but instead are temple/shrine (or other specific-location) festivals which tend not to get much mention.

The Chugoku Thirty-Three Temple Pilgrimage official website lists the festivals held at each temple after its description:
http://www.kannon.org/jiin/01/01/index.htm