murmurAkita Kanto Festival
Akita City · Kanto Odori Avenue
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Akita City Kanto Festival Executive Committee · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Aug 3–6, 2026 （Ended） Night performances 19:10–20:25 (19:15–20:35 on August 4 and August 5)
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early August
- How the date is set
- Every year, August 3 – August 6
- Venue
- Kanto Odori Avenue
- City
- Akita City, Akita
About
Akita's great summer festival grew out of neburi-nagashi, a rite for sweeping away midsummer illness and evil, and its basic form is said to have existed by the Horeki era. The oldest surviving account, a travel diary from 1789, already describes long cross-shaped poles hung with countless lights paraded through town to the beat of drums. Each night, Kanto Odori Avenue fills with towering lantern poles, likened to ears of rice, which performers balance on their palms, foreheads, shoulders and hips. Two styles of festival music accompany them: one for parading and one for the performances. By day, a skills competition at Area Nakaichi crowns the year's champions.
Sources
- OfficialAkita City Kanto Festival Executive Committee www.kantou.gr.jp
- OfficialAkita City Kanto Festival Executive Committee www.kantou.gr.jp
- Reference竿燈まつりについて｜秋田竿燈まつり www.kantou.gr.jp
- Referenceよくあるご質問｜秋田竿燈まつり www.kantou.gr.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.