murmurOume-sai White Horse Festival (Kashima Jingu Shrine)
Kashima City · Kashima Jingu Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Ibaraki Prefectural Tourism & Local Products Association (Visit Ibaraki) · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Wed, Jan 7, 2026 （Ended） From 18:00
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early January
- How the date is set
- Announced each year Usually held on the evening of January 7
- Venue
- Kashima Jingu Shrine
- City
- Kashima City, Ibaraki
About
Early in the New Year, Kashima Jingu holds this rite, known as the festival in which the deity wakes up. It derives from an old ceremony of leading a horse around when the doors of the main sanctuary were opened for the first time each year, and is said to have continued since the beginning of the Kamakura period. Tradition holds that seeing a white horse at New Year wards off evil for the year ahead, and later a belief grew that anything the sacred horse treads on will make your wishes come true. So on the day, many worshippers spread handkerchiefs along the horse's path and wait as it walks by to the sound of wooden clappers and kagura drums. Seven-herb rice porridge and sweet amazake are handed out. Kashima Jingu enshrines Takemikazuchi and heads all the Kashima shrines in Japan.
Sources
- OfficialIbaraki Prefectural Tourism & Local Products Association (Visit Ibaraki) www.ibarakiguide.jp
- OfficialKashima Jingu Shrine kashimajingu.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.
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.