murmurDaimokutate at Yahashira Shrine (Kamifukawa)
Nara City · Yahashira Shrine, Kamifukawa, Nara City
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Nara City Tourism Association · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Mon, Oct 12, 2026
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid October
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Performed on the eve of Yahashira Shrine's autumn festival
- Venue
- Yahashira Shrine, Kamifukawa, Nara City
- City
- Nara City, Nara
About
On the eve of the autumn festival at Yahashira Shrine in Tsuge, on the east side of Nara City, Daimokutate is performed, a chanted drama with almost no movement. Without costumes, each performer stands at a set spot on a bare stage and voices one character from 1 of 3 pieces based on the Genpei War, delivering the lines in a distinctive melodic chant. With no showy action, the story is carried entirely by voice, and the effect feels like a window onto medieval performance. Historians of Japanese theater see it as an early stage in the shift from recited narrative to staged drama. Believed to date back at least to the Muromachi period, it is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Sources
- OfficialNara City Tourism Association narashikanko.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.
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.