murmurKure Hachimangu Shrine Autumn Grand Festival
Nakatosa Town · Kure Hachimangu Shrine, Kure, Nakatosa
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Nakatosa Town Tourist Information (Michi-no-Eki Nakatosa) · Last checked: Oct 10, 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 late September
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Held from the 14th to the 15th day of the 8th lunar month
- Venue
- Kure Hachimangu Shrine, Kure, Nakatosa
- City
- Nakatosa Town, Kochi
About
Kure, the Nakatosa fishing town famed for pole-caught bonito, comes alive around the mid-autumn moon of the eighth lunar month for the autumn festival of Kure Hachimangu, one of Kochi Prefecture's three great festivals. The shrine, which honors six deities including Emperor Ojin, sits in the middle of town facing the Pacific. The peak is Omikokusan, running from evening until dawn: a giant torch of split bamboo and pine bound around a core of moso bamboo, 5 to 6 m long and weighing about a tonne, heads a procession through the streets. When it is finally thrown into the shrine grounds, parishioners and visitors fight over its burning branches, believed to keep evil away. Fireworks and the deity's procession through town follow over the next days.
Sources
- OfficialNakatosa Town Tourist Information (Michi-no-Eki Nakatosa) www.nakatosa.com
- OfficialKochi Visitors & Convention Association kochi-tabi.jp
- OfficialAgency for Cultural Affairs (article by Nakatosa Town Board of Education) www.bunka.go.jp
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.