murmurHassaku Matsuri (Yabe Harvest Festival)
Yamato Town · Hamamachi, central Yamato
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Kumamoto Prefecture (Kumamoto Culture Site) · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Sep 5–6, 2026 （Ended） Confirmed from the official annual schedule and Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun’s notice for that year
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early September
- How the date is set
- The 1st Saturday of September Held over the first Saturday and Sunday of September
- Venue
- Hamamachi, central Yamato
- City
- Yamato Town, Kumamoto
About
Hamamachi, the center of Yamato Town, holds this festival over the first Saturday and Sunday of September; it used to fall on Hassaku day in the old lunar calendar. The night before, each neighborhood group hauls a float carrying shamisen and drum players around town for the Asaokoshi wake-up call. On day one, the mikoshi of Senuma Inari leads the groups' dances and a local elementary school's drum-and-fife band through the streets. Day two belongs to the otsukurimono: every group picks a theme poking fun at the year's events and builds animals, people or characters out of nothing but natural materials. These creations, three to four meters tall, roll through town one after another with music floats and costumed followers. People get so carried away that the opening is called kitsune-tsuki, fox possession, and the finale kitsune-banashi, releasing the fox.
Sources
- OfficialKumamoto Prefecture (Kumamoto Culture Site) kumamoto.guide
- Date checkKumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun kumanichi.com
- Reference「被災者勇気づけたい」 大造り物の制作大詰め 9月5、6日、山都町で八朔祭（熊本日日新聞） kumanichi.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.