murmurAmatsu Shrine Spring Festival (Itoigawa Kenka Matsuri)
Itoigawa City · Amatsu Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Niigata Prefectural Tourist Association · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Apr 10–11, 2026 （Ended） About 10:00–17:00
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early April
- How the date is set
- Every year, April 10 – April 11
- Venue
- Amatsu Shrine
- City
- Itoigawa City, Niigata
About
Amatsu Shrine in Itoigawa, a short walk from Itoigawa Station, holds a spring festival everyone calls the Kenka (Fighting) Festival. Young men of Oshiage carry the first portable shrine and those of Teramachi the second, and as they circle the grounds the two crash together and grapple again and again. It ends in a dash from fixed starting points to settle who wins. The rough rite, a prayer for good catches and harvests, gives way to sacred bugaku dance, and the grounds fall quiet. Together with the bugaku of Nou Hakusan Shrine, these dances are said to follow the tradition of Shitennoji in Osaka and are an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan as the Bugaku of Itoigawa and Nou. They are performed on both days, in different costumes on the second, so it's worth seeing both.
Sources
- OfficialNiigata Prefectural Tourist Association niigata-kankou.or.jp
- OfficialItoigawa City Tourism Association www.itoigawa-kanko.net
Last checked: Oct 11, 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.