murmurKasuga Wakamiya Onmatsuri Festival
Nara City · Kasuga Taisha Wakamiya Shrine, the Otabisho and central Nara
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Kasuga Wakamiya Onmatsuri Preservation Society · 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 mid December
- How the date is set
- Every year, December 15 – December 18 Core rites run Dec 15–18; the grand procession is on Dec 17
- Venue
- Kasuga Taisha Wakamiya Shrine, the Otabisho and central Nara
- City
- Nara City, Nara
About
The festival of Kasuga Taisha's Wakamiya shrine fills Nara with processions and performing arts from centuries past. It opens with the deity being led by huge torches to a temporary shrine at the Otabisho. At midday comes the Owatari, a parade of about 1,000 people and around 50 horses, dressed in everything from Heian court costume to samurai gear. On the turf stage at the Otabisho, kagura, azuma-asobi, dengaku, sarugaku, bugaku and other arts are offered until late at night; the Japanese word for theater, shibai ("on the grass"), is said to come from audiences sitting here. The regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi started it in 1136, rallying all of Yamato Province to pray for harvests and peace, and after nearly 900 years it is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan.
Sources
- OfficialKasuga Wakamiya Onmatsuri Preservation Society onmatsuri.kasugataisha.or.jp
- OfficialKasuga Taisha www.kasugataisha.or.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.
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.