murmurOiso Sagicho Fire Festival
Oiso Town · Kitahama Beach, Oiso
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Oiso Town · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Sat, Jan 17, 2026 （Ended） Bonfires are lit around 18:30
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid January
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Usually mid-January
- Venue
- Kitahama Beach, Oiso
- City
- Oiso Town, Kanagawa
About
A fire festival on Oiso's Kitahama Beach for Sae-no-Kami, the roadside guardian god, also known locally as Saetobarei or Dondoyaki and designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. New Year decorations and lucky charms collected from around town are built into 9 large cone-shaped pyres on the sand, and all of them are lit once darkness falls. Tradition says dumplings toasted in these flames ward off colds, and New Year calligraphy that rises high as it burns means better handwriting. The scene to watch is young men in loincloths dragging a temporary shrine into the sea, then splitting into beach and land sides for a tug of war. In the days leading up to it, local children stay in festival huts and pound drums.
Sources
- OfficialOiso Town www.town.oiso.kanagawa.jp
- OfficialKanagawa Prefectural Tourist Association www.kanagawa-kankou.or.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.