murmurChiran Neputa Festival
Minamikyushu City · Chiran town shopping street
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
- Sat, Jul 25, 2026 （Ended） Neputa procession 19:00–21:00
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually late July
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Date announced each year
- Venue
- Chiran town shopping street
- City
- Minamikyushu City, Kagoshima
About
On a summer evening, the shopping street of Chiran in Minamikyushu fills with giant lit-up neputa floats, a tradition borrowed from Aomori in Japan's far north. Each float is a fan-shaped frame roughly 5 meters tall and 4 meters wide, painted with warrior scenes, and they roll past the edge of the samurai residence gardens with festival musicians and dance groups in tow. The link to Aomori comes from youth homestay exchanges with Hiraka (now Hirakawa City), and the first festival, held in 1996, carried the name Hiraka Neputa Festival in Chiran. Watching costs nothing. If you drive, leave the car near Chiran Peace Park and ride the shuttle bus to the street.
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.