murmurTakinomiya Nenbutsu Odori
Ayagawa Town · Takinomiya Shrine and Takinomiya Tenmangu Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Ayagawa Town Board of Education · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Sun, Aug 23, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually late August
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year
- Venue
- Takinomiya Shrine and Takinomiya Tenmangu Shrine
- City
- Ayagawa Town, Kagawa
About
Takinomiya Nenbutsu Odori is a rain-prayer dance offered at Takinomiya Shrine and Takinomiya Tenmangu in Ayagawa, asking for rain and a bountiful harvest. Carried on for around 1,100 years as a prayer for a peaceful community and good crops, it is kept alive by 11 dance groups, 3 of which performed in 2026. Each group passes down its own roles and props, and some still have bells thought to date from the Edo period. The dancer called the genji carries a fan showing the sun on one face and the moon on the other, with designs differing between groups. It became a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1977. The dance is performed in the morning, first at Takinomiya Shrine and then at Takinomiya Tenmangu, moving to the Ayanan Rural Environment Improvement Center if it rains. Roads nearby are restricted, and the shrines can be reached on foot from Kotoden Takinomiya Station.
Sources
- OfficialAyagawa Town Board of Education www.town.ayagawa.lg.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.