murmurKariya Mando Festival (Akiba Shrine Festival)
Kariya City · Central Kariya around Akiba Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Aichi Now (Aichi Prefecture Tourism and Convention Bureau) · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Jul 25–26, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually late July
- How the date is set
- The last Saturday of July The last Saturday and Sunday of July (Shingaku on day one, Hongaku on day two)
- Venue
- Central Kariya around Akiba Shrine
- City
- Kariya City, Aichi
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About
On the last Saturday and Sunday of July, Akiba Shrine in Kariya's Ginza district holds a summer festival built around the mando: huge papier-mache figures of bamboo and washi, boldly painted with kabuki characters and warriors. Each is about 5 m tall, 3 m wide and some 60 kg, yet a single young man carries it on his back and makes it dance to flutes and drums. On day one (Shingaku), the seven parish districts are joined by companies and neighborhoods from around the city, and around 20 large mando plus many children's ones parade through town. On day two (Hongaku), the seven districts dance their mando in the shrine grounds as an offering. The festival asks for good harvests, protection from fire and a safe neighborhood, is an Aichi Prefecture intangible folk cultural property, and draws over 70,000 people across the two days.
Sources
- OfficialAichi Now (Aichi Prefecture Tourism and Convention Bureau) aichinow.pref.aichi.jp
Last checked: Oct 10, 2026. Event information is based on official announcements, but changes may not always be reflected here. Please check each official website for accurate details.
Other events this month
On the day, see what locals are murmuring on the murmur map
murmur is an app that shows short, anonymous posts on a map, right where they were written. On festival day, open the map around the venue and see what people nearby are saying.