murmurHakata Dontaku Port Festival
Fukuoka City · Fukuoka City Hall Fureai Plaza (main venue) and sites across the city
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Fukuoka Citizens' Festival Promotion Association · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- May 3–4, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early May
- How the date is set
- Every year, May 3 – May 4 An eve-of-festival event is held on May 2
- Venue
- Fukuoka City Hall Fureai Plaza (main venue) and sites across the city
- City
- Fukuoka City, Fukuoka
About
On May 3 and 4 the whole of Fukuoka becomes a festival stage, as more than two million visitors from Japan and abroad watch residents fill the streets with parades, performance stages, decorated vehicles and a marching band festival. At its heart is Hakata Matsubayashi, a procession of the lucky gods Fukujin, Ebisu and Daikoku with children in costume, said to date from 1179 and designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. The name dontaku took hold when the procession was revived after a Meiji-era ban, and is said to come from the Dutch word for a day of rest. Restarted in 1946 after the war, it became Fukuoka's citizens' festival in 1962. A kickoff event is held on the evening of May 2.
Sources
- OfficialFukuoka Citizens' Festival Promotion Association www.dontaku.fukunet.or.jp
- OfficialFukuoka Prefecture Tourism Association (Crossroad Fukuoka) www.crossroadfukuoka.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.