murmurKakioka Festival (Yasaka Shrine Gion Festival)
Ishioka City · Kakioka shopping street around Yasaka Shrine, Ishioka
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Ishioka City Tourism Association · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Jul 25–26, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually late July
- How the date is set
- The 4th Sunday of July Held on the Saturday and Sunday that include the fourth Sunday of July
- Venue
- Kakioka shopping street around Yasaka Shrine, Ishioka
- City
- Ishioka City, Ibaraki
About
The Gion festival of Kakioka's Yasaka Shrine is the biggest event in Ishioka's Yasato area. It used to follow the old lunar calendar, but today it is held on the fourth Sunday of July and the Saturday before. Leading the mikoshi procession is Tate-jishi, a single-dancer lion dance that is a city-designated intangible folk cultural property, followed by children shouldering tiered poles decked with paper flowers and the Araju sasara dancers. On the last afternoon six district floats roll through town, and on board, hyottoko and fox characters dance to Katano Haika-bayashi, music designated as a prefectural intangible folk cultural property. After dark all six floats line up before the shrine and play against one another in the festival's high point. Some years also feature the Kakioka karakuri puppets, rarely seen elsewhere in Ibaraki.
Sources
- OfficialIshioka City Tourism Association www.ishioka-kankou.com
- OfficialIbaraki Prefecture (Ibaraki Tourism) www.ibarakiguide.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.