murmurAkina Arasetsu Rituals (Shochogama and Hirase Mankai)
Tatsugo Town · Akina village and Akina Bay
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, Sep 19, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually in September
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Held on a hinoe day of the eighth lunar month
- Venue
- Akina village and Akina Bay
- City
- Tatsugo Town, Kagoshima
About
In Akina village in Tatsugo, on Amami Oshima, a rice festival set by the lunar calendar welcomes the spirits of rice from the mountains and the sea, thanking them for the year's crop and asking for another good one. It is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. The festival comes in two parts. At daybreak, Shochogama sees a hut with a single-sloped roof shaken until it collapses just as the sun comes up. In the evening, Hirase Mankai moves to Akina Bay, where prayers are offered on two sacred rocks that stand in the water. Since the date follows the lunar calendar, it falls on a different day each year; inquiries go to the Tatsugo Town Board of Education.
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.