murmurKabe Daimonji Festival (Gion Takamatsu Shrine)
Hiroshima City · Gion Takamatsu Shrine and Mt. Takamatsu, Kabe, Asakita Ward
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Dive! Hiroshima (Hiroshima Tourism Association) · Last checked: Oct 10, 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 late May
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year The last Saturday and Sunday of May that both fall in May; lanterns lit from 7 p.m. to midnight
- Venue
- Gion Takamatsu Shrine and Mt. Takamatsu, Kabe, Asakita Ward
- City
- Hiroshima City, Hiroshima
About
On the last weekend of May that stays entirely within May, a huge character for dai (great), 55 meters tall and 45 meters wide, is lit on Mt. Takamatsu in Kabe, Asakita Ward, Hiroshima. The lights burn from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. Nobody knows exactly when this began, though some say it is around 300 years old. One local tale tells of a great fire that once swept through Kabe in the shape of that very character, after which lights were offered to keep fire away. The festival as it is today was set up by the Daimonji Preservation Society, formed by residents in 1964, which says this is the only daimonji in Japan lit as a shrine rite against fire. Saturday includes a ceremony at Gion Takamatsu Shrine; Sunday is lights only.
Sources
- OfficialDive! Hiroshima (Hiroshima Tourism Association) dive-hiroshima.com
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.