murmurKodai Torch Fire Festival
Bungo-ono City · Around Harajiri Falls and across the Ogata Plain, Ogata, Bungo-ono
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Tourism Oita · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Fri, Aug 14, 2026 （Ended） From 7:30 pm
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid August
- How the date is set
- Every year on August 14
- Venue
- Around Harajiri Falls and across the Ogata Plain, Ogata, Bungo-ono
- City
- Bungo-ono City, Oita
About
On an Obon-season night in the Ogata area of Bungo-ono, about 10,000 torches are lit at once across the rice fields. Small flames spread from around Harajiri Falls out over the paddies of the Ogata Plain, drawing ribbons of light through the dark. The rite began as mushi-okuri, chasing insects from the fields to pray for a good rice crop, and is said to go back to the Edo period. Locals also see it as a memorial to Okunojo, honored as a guardian of the rite after a farmers' protest in 1753. It suits this rice-growing district well, and the city has designated it an intangible folk cultural property.
Sources
- OfficialTourism Oita www.visit-oita.jp
- OfficialBungo-ono City www.bungo-ohno.jp
- OfficialBungo-ono City www.bungo-ohno.jp
Last checked: Oct 10, 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.