murmurMyoenji Mairi (Pilgrimage to Tokushige Shrine)
Hioki City · Around Tokushige Shrine, Ijuin, Hioki
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Oct 24–25, 2026
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually late October
- How the date is set
- The 4th Sunday of October Held every year on the fourth Sunday of October and the day before
- Venue
- Around Tokushige Shrine, Ijuin, Hioki
- City
- Hioki City, Kagoshima
About
In Myoenji Mairi, one of Kagoshima's three great traditional events, people walk about 20 km from Kagoshima City to Tokushige Shrine in Ijuin, Hioki. More than 50,000 visitors fill Ijuin, where there are folk performing arts, martial arts tournaments and a walking rally for families. The pilgrimage honors Lord Shimazu Yoshihiro, who broke through enemy lines at Sekigahara and struggled home to Satsuma. Samurai from the castle town are said to have marched through the night in armor to Myoenji, his family temple, as training for body and mind. Ordinary people joined in from the Meiji era, and when the temple was turned into Tokushige Shrine during the anti-Buddhist movement, the walk simply continued.
Sources
- OfficialKagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau www.kagoshima-kankou.com
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.