murmurOsorezan Autumn Festival
Mutsu City · Osorezan Sacred Ground (Osorezan Bodaiji Temple)
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Osorezan Bodaiji Temple · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates not confirmed
- 2026
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early October
- How the date is set
- The 2nd Monday of October The three days ending on Sports Day, the second Monday of October
- Venue
- Osorezan Sacred Ground (Osorezan Bodaiji Temple)
- City
- Mutsu City, Aomori
About
Held each autumn at Osorezan, counted with Mount Hiei and Mount Koya among Japan's three great sacred mountains, this festival draws people to a place where locals have long said the dead go. During the festival the temple holds a series of Buddhist services, including a ritual recitation of the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra. In most years, itako, female mediums, also call on the spirits of the departed for visitors, who line up to hear messages from the other world. The sacred ground lies inside a ring of volcanic peaks; cross the arched bridge over the River Sanzu and you enter an otherworldly landscape that includes Gokuraku-hama, a beach said to evoke paradise, and Jigokudani, a valley of hells thick with the smell of sulfur. Bodaiji Temple is said to have been founded in 862 by the monk Ennin. Visitors can bathe for free in the hot-spring huts on the grounds. An entry fee applies, and the site is open from May through the end of October.
Sources
- OfficialOsorezan Bodaiji Temple reijyo-osorezan.jp
- OfficialAomori Prefectural Government Tourism and International Exchange Organization aomori-tourism.com
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.