murmurIki Kagura: Daidai Kagura at Sumiyoshi Shrine
Iki City · Sumiyoshi Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Iki City official tourism site · 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 December
- How the date is set
- Every year on December 20 Every December 20; a Daidai Kagura is also performed at Tsutsukihama on the first Saturday of August
- Venue
- Sumiyoshi Shrine
- City
- Iki City, Nagasaki
About
Iki Kagura, a sacred performing art passed down on Iki Island for about 700 years, is a nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Its most solemn and elaborate form, the Daidai Kagura, is dedicated at Sumiyoshi Shrine in Ashibe on December 20, beginning at 14:00. Only priests of the island's shrines are permitted to dance or play the music. Nothing is written down; everything is learned by ear, and the dances unfold on a space of only about two tatami mats. Through autumn and winter, kagura is offered at some shrine on the island nearly every day, but the Daidai Kagura is performed just twice a year, in August and December. There are thirty-three pieces, and masks appear in dances such as Yatagarasu and Sarutahiko. After dark the shrine grounds are bathed in green light, giving the night a mysterious feel.
Sources
- OfficialIki City official tourism site shrine.ikikankou.com
- OfficialNagasaki Prefecture Tourism Association (Nagasaki Tabinet) www.nagasaki-tabinet.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.