murmurHakata Gion Yamakasa
Fukuoka City · Kushida Shrine and locations across Hakata
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Hakata Gion Yamakasa Promotion Association · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Jul 1–15, 2026 （Ended） Oiyama rehearsal on July 12, group float parade on July 13, Oiyama race from 4:59 on July 15
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early July
- How the date is set
- Every year, July 1 – July 15
- Venue
- Kushida Shrine and locations across Hakata
- City
- Fukuoka City, Fukuoka
About
Hakata's thundering summer festival offers yamakasa floats to Kushida Shrine, the district's guardian, with prayers for health. Thought to date back to the Kamakura period, it is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and joined UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2016. On July 1, lavish display floats about 10 meters tall appear at 14 locations and the city's mood changes overnight. Seven districts called nagare each build a kakiyama, a float made to be carried at a run, around a theme chosen every year. Rehearsal runs and a group parade build momentum until the final dawn: at 4:59 a.m. the first float bursts away in the Oiyama, its team singing the Hakata Iwai-uta, a privilege of the first float alone, as onlookers join in. Floats weighing about a ton are then carried at speed over roughly 5 km.
Sources
- OfficialHakata Gion Yamakasa Promotion Association www.hakatayamakasa.com
- 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.