murmurShibata Castle Town Festival
Shibata City · Around Suwa 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
- Aug 27–29, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually late August
- How the date is set
- Every year, August 27 – August 29
- Venue
- Around Suwa Shrine
- City
- Shibata City, Niigata
About
Suwa Shrine, the guardian shrine of Shibata, holds its grand annual festival as the town's send-off to summer. The days are packed: goldfish-shaped kingyo dairin floats, yosakoi, fireworks, a portable shrine procession, a children's festival called Shibatakko no Saiten, folk dancing and parades. The must-see is the kaeri dairin on the last day, when men pit their spirit against one another as they haul the dairin floats out into town, drawing big crowds. Stalls fill the streets around the shrine, which teem with people; the stall days are fixed each year. The shrine is about 5 minutes on foot from Shibata Station on the JR Uetsu Line.
Sources
- OfficialNiigata Prefectural Tourist Association niigata-kankou.or.jp
- OfficialShibata Castle Town Festival Executive Committee sites.google.com
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.