murmurHiruga Underwater Tug-of-War
Mihama Town · Canal linking Lake Hiruga and the Sea of Japan, Hiruga, Mihama
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Fukui Prefectural Tourism Association (fuku-e.com) · Last checked: Oct 11, 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 mid January
- How the date is set
- The 3rd Sunday of January Third Sunday of January every year
- Venue
- Canal linking Lake Hiruga and the Sea of Japan, Hiruga, Mihama
- City
- Mihama Town, Fukui
About
On the third Sunday of January, the village of Hiruga in Mihama stages a midwinter ritual that peaks in the afternoon. Young men in colorful headbands, cotton belly wraps and underwear leap one after another from the railings of the Taiko Bridge into the icy water, split into east and west teams and fight to tear apart a giant rope, battling on until their skin turns bright red as crowds watch from the banks. The rope itself is made early that morning at the local Inari shrine, 30 centimeters thick and 40 meters long, and strung across the canal linking Lake Hiruga to the Sea of Japan, decked with fishing banners. At midday the villagers visit Uwase Shrine to pray for a good catch. Watching costs nothing.
Sources
- OfficialFukui Prefectural Tourism Association (fuku-e.com) www.fuku-e.com
Last checked: Oct 11, 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.