murmurKatakai Festival (Asahara Shrine Autumn Festival)
Ojiya City · Katakai, around Asahara Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Katakai Fireworks Association · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Sep 11–12, 2026 （Ended） 19:30 to 22:20
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid September
- How the date is set
- The 2nd Friday of September The second Friday of September and the following Saturday
- Venue
- Katakai, around Asahara Shrine
- City
- Ojiya City, Niigata
About
Asahara Shrine in Katakai, Ojiya, holds its autumn festival as a fireworks festival, one of the three great displays of Echigo. Katakai is where the giant three-shaku shell was born, and every firework here is an offering to the shrine from local people, marking a birth or wedding, asking for health and family safety, or remembering someone who has died. From the morning there are old rites such as tamaokuri, carrying the shells to the shrine, and tsutsubiki, hauling the launch tubes to pray for a safe show. After dark, as big shells burst one after another, the hill behind the launch site throws the booms back like a folding screen. At 22:00 the Shoyonshakudama, the world's largest firework, opens to about 800 m across. Around 15,000 shells go up over 2 days.
Sources
- OfficialKatakai Fireworks Association katakaimachi-enkakyokai.info
- 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.