murmurYamagiwa Inari Shrine Grand Festival
Shimonita Town · Yamagiwa Inari Shrine and Yamagiwa Park (float procession through central Shimonita)
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
- Mar 21–22, 2026 （Ended） Mar 21 float procession 13:00–16:45; Mar 22 market 9:30–15:00
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually late March
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Usually a Saturday and Sunday in late March
- Venue
- Yamagiwa Inari Shrine and Yamagiwa Park (float procession through central Shimonita)
- City
- Shimonita Town, Gunma
About
The annual festival of Yamagiwa Inari Shrine is known in Shimonita as the event that announces spring. The shrine is said to have been founded in the mid-Edo period with a share of the deity of Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. Because silkworm-raising equipment, farm tools, seedlings and trees spread through the region via the Yamagiwa market, it came to be revered as a god of industry. On the first afternoon, a float adorned with the Inari deity tours town with festival music, pausing at key spots for purification rites asking for good harvests. On the second day there are ceremonies at the shrine, the traditional spring market fills the grounds, and children and young locals play festival music. Local parishioners keep it going with help from volunteers.
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.