murmurUshibuka Haiya Festival
Amakusa City · Central Ushibuka, Amakusa
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Ushibuka Haiya Festival Executive Committee · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Apr 17–19, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid April
- How the date is set
- The 3rd Saturday of April Usually held over the third weekend of April, with an eve event on the Friday before
- Venue
- Central Ushibuka, Amakusa
- City
- Amakusa City, Kumamoto
About
Ushibuka in Amakusa holds this spring festival for its own folk song, Ushibuka Haiya Bushi, regarded as the root of around 40 Haiya-style songs found across Japan. The story goes that in the late Edo period, when Ushibuka was a key port crowded with sailing ships, sailors and local women sang and danced it together; trading ships then carried it from harbor to harbor, and it is said to have influenced Sado Okesa and Awa Odori. Grown out of earlier memorial and harbor festivals, today's event involves the whole town. The showpiece is the Haiya Sou-odori, when a total of about 3,000 dancers young and old move through some 2 km of shopping streets near the port to live music, on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Dancers from outside Ushibuka can join in, and free parking is available.
Sources
- OfficialUshibuka Haiya Festival Executive Committee ushibuka-haiya.com
- Referenceハイヤ祭りの歴史（牛深ハイヤ祭り実行委員会） ushibuka-haiya.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.