murmurMitarashi Festival (Foot-Dipping Ritual) at Shimogamo Shrine
Kyoto City · Mitarashi Pond, Shimogamo Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Shimogamo Shrine · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Jul 18–30, 2026 （Ended） 9:00 to 20:00 (enter by 19:30 to make a candle offering). The main rite is on July 26 at 10:00
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually late July
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Held for about two weeks around the Day of the Ox in midsummer (doyo no ushi no hi)
- Venue
- Mitarashi Pond, Shimogamo Shrine
- City
- Kyoto City, Kyoto
About
Held at the World Heritage-listed Shimogamo Shrine around the midsummer Day of the Ox, this festival is also called the foot-dipping ritual. Visitors take off their shoes, wade knee-deep through the spring water of the Mitarashi Pond holding a candle, and place it at the Mitarashi shrine to cleanse themselves and pray for good health in the year ahead. The pond is known for springs that bubble up in midsummer, and those bubbles are said to be the origin of mitarashi dango, the skewered rice dumplings. The grounds stay open into the evening, when the candlelit pond is especially atmospheric. The candle offering is 500 yen for adults; children of junior-high age and under pay what they wish.
Sources
- OfficialShimogamo Shrine www.shimogamo-jinja.or.jp
- OfficialKyoto City Tourism Association (Kyoto Travel) ja.kyoto.travel
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.