murmurKajiki Spider Fighting Tournament
Aira City · Amikake Square, Aira City Hall Kajiki Branch
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau (Kagoshima no Tabi) · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Sun, Jun 21, 2026 （Ended） 8:30 to 16:00
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid June
- How the date is set
- The 3rd Sunday of June
- Venue
- Amikake Square, Aira City Hall Kajiki Branch
- City
- Aira City, Kagoshima
About
On the third Sunday of June, Kajiki in Aira City stages a contest in which female golden orb-weaver spiders fight one another. The main bouts take place on a 60 cm horizontal stick, where two spiders face off. A separate category judges spiders on shape and sheen, with the judges wearing formal kamishimo samurai dress. Competitors range from elementary school children to people who have raised fighting spiders for over 50 years, and media from abroad come to cover it. Local lore traces the custom back 400 years to Shimazu Yoshihiro, who is said to have had his troops fight spiders to keep up morale during the Korean campaigns of the 1590s. The Kumo Gassen Preservation Society runs it today, and it is registered as a UNESCO Japan "Project Future Heritage 2018."
Sources
- OfficialKagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau (Kagoshima no Tabi) www.kagoshima-kankou.com
- OfficialAira City www.city.aira.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.