murmurChinka-sai "Medicine Festival" (Omiwa Shrine)
Sakurai City · Omiwa Shrine and Sai Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Omiwa Shrine · 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 April
- How the date is set
- Every year on April 18
- Venue
- Omiwa Shrine and Sai Shrine
- City
- Sakurai City, Nara
About
Omiwa Shrine in Sakurai and its Sai Shrine, home of the deity's rough spirit (aramitama), hold this rite against epidemics, and so many drug makers and medical workers come from Nara, Osaka, Kyoto and elsewhere to offer medicines that it's nicknamed the Medicine Festival. Medicinal honeysuckle and lily bulbs are still laid out as special offerings. The rite honors Omononushi, who is said to have stopped a great plague in the reign of Emperor Sujin. A Heian-period legal commentary explains that disease spirits scatter with the falling spring blossoms and that the two shrines calm them, showing it was already a state rite under the Taiho Code of 701. Afterward, protective paper wands and honeysuckle sake are available for a limited time.
Sources
- OfficialOmiwa Shrine oomiwa.or.jp
- OfficialOmiwa Shrine oomiwa.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.