murmurOni-oi Demon Chase (Kumano Shrine)
Soo City · Fukagawa Kumano Shrine (Sueyoshi, Soo City)
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates not confirmed
- 2026
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early January
- How the date is set
- Every year on January 7
- Venue
- Fukagawa Kumano Shrine (Sueyoshi, Soo City)
- City
- Soo City, Kagoshima
About
At Fukagawa Kumano Shrine in Sueyoshi, Soo City, the New Year brings a rare custom in which demons storm through the shrine grounds. There are three of them, a male, a female and a child, each covered head to foot in paper streamers and escorted by attendants called tsuke who hold the streamers on either side, and they swing demon hands and oak staffs as they charge about. Frightening as they look, these demons are thought to invite good fortune and drive off disaster, bringing good harvests and a peaceful land, and the rowdier they get, the bigger the blessing. A blow from a demon is said to keep you free of illness for the year, and the wind they raise to refresh body and mind. Anyone watching may try to tear off a scrap of streamer for a year of health, though snatching it from a rampaging demon is harder than it sounds.
Sources
- OfficialKagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau www.kagoshima-kankou.com
- OfficialSoo City Tourism Association soo-navi.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.