murmurSekiyama Shrine Fire Festival
Myoko City · Sekiyama 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
- Jul 18–19, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid July
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year A Saturday and Sunday in mid-July
- Venue
- Sekiyama Shrine
- City
- Myoko City, Niigata
About
Sekiyama Shrine in Myoko, 5 minutes by bus or 15 minutes on foot from Sekiyama Station, holds this fire festival over a Saturday and Sunday. Saturday opens below the stone steps in front of the shrine with children and adults dressed as mountain ascetics giving staff-fighting displays, followed by the sacred pine pulling beneath the arched bridge, which anyone can join. Evening brings drums, traditional instruments, shinobue flute and folk dancing to the shrine grounds. On Sunday the portable shrine sets out in the morning, tours the district, pauses for another staff display at Sekiyama Station and comes home at night; offertory sumo is also part of the program. The festival is run by the shrine's young parishioners, grew out of worship of Mount Myoko and is said to have over 1,300 years of tradition. The staff display became a Niigata Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2013.
Sources
- OfficialNiigata Prefectural Tourist Association niigata-kankou.or.jp
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.