murmurTosa Akaoka Ekin Festival
Konan City · Akaoka shopping street (Hondori)
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Tosa Akaoka Ekin Festival Executive Committee · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Jul 18–19, 2026 （Ended） 18:00–21:00 (screens on display 19:00–21:00)
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid July
- How the date is set
- The 3rd Saturday of July The third Saturday of July and the following Sunday
- Venue
- Akaoka shopping street (Hondori)
- City
- Konan City, Kochi
About
On one summer night a year, 23 theater-scene folding screens by the late-Edo painter Kinzo, better known as Ekin, come out along the old main street of Akaoka in Konan City. Families who own the screens set them under their eaves and light them with big hyakume candles, so the vivid, often gory scenes flicker out of the dark. Look closely and you will also find clowning bit players and hidden pictures tucked into the bloodshed. Young members of the local chamber of commerce started the festival in 1977, taking the rite of Suruta Hachimangu Shrine as a model and hoping to revive the shopping street. The road turns pedestrian-only, with food stalls and a beer garden. In heavy rain the screens may stay indoors.
Sources
- OfficialTosa Akaoka Ekin Festival Executive Committee ekinmatsuri.com
- OfficialKonan City Tourism Association kounan-navi.com
Last checked: Oct 10, 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.