murmurObata Castle Town Cherry Blossom Festival Samurai Procession
Kanra Town · Rakusan-en Garden to Obata Hachiman Shrine and Kanra General Park (Omatsuri Hiroba)
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Gunma Prefecture / Gunma Association of Tourism, Local Products & International Exchange · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Sun, Apr 5, 2026 （Ended） Procession from 10:00; victory ceremony from 13:00
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early April
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Parts of the programme may change due to weather or other circumstances
- Venue
- Rakusan-en Garden to Obata Hachiman Shrine and Kanra General Park (Omatsuri Hiroba)
- City
- Kanra Town, Gunma
About
The main event of cherry blossom season in Obata, the old castle town of Kanra, is a samurai procession. It looks back on the Oda family's 152 years in charge of the Obata domain, which began in 1615 when Tokugawa Ieyasu gave it to Oda Nobukatsu, second son of Oda Nobunaga, and ended in 1767 when the eighth lord was confined to his house. Among falling petals, a mounted general and armored Oda troops hold a departure ceremony at Rakusan-en, pray at Obata Hachiman Shrine and finish with a victory ceremony at the festival square in Kanra General Park, where there are sword-fight displays and matchlock gun demonstrations, with stage shows through the day. The 2026 festival was the thirty-ninth. The route is fully closed to traffic in the morning, so plan accordingly if driving.
Sources
- OfficialGunma Prefecture / Gunma Association of Tourism, Local Products & International Exchange gunma-kanko.jp
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.