murmurSecchu Hanamizu Iwai (Snow Water Blessing)
Uonuma City · Horinouchi shopping street and Horinouchi Hachimangu Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Secchu Hanamizu Iwai Executive Committee · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Sat, Feb 14, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid February
- How the date is set
- The 2nd Saturday of February
- Venue
- Horinouchi shopping street and Horinouchi Hachimangu Shrine
- City
- Uonuma City, Niigata
About
In February, said to be the coldest month in Uonuma, Horinouchi holds an unusual festival whose big moment is the water blessing: newly married grooms have sacred water poured over their heads, praying for children and a happy marriage. Before that, a procession of Sarutahiko, Ame-no-Uzume, mountain ascetics, priests, shrine maidens, grooms and attendants in kamishimo walks through town handing out beans, rice cakes and cups of sake. The day also has a food market, a hato-ichi market, a celebratory rice-cake scatter and fireworks over the snow. Dating back to the Edo period, the rite appears in Suzuki Bokushi's Hokuetsu Seppu as Hanamizu-iwai; it lapsed in early Meiji and was revived in 1988 after 115 years.
Sources
- OfficialSecchu Hanamizu Iwai Executive Committee hanamizu.org
- OfficialNiigata Prefecture Tourism Association (Niigata Kanko Navi) 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.