murmurRyozanji Temple Gohosai Festival
Misaki Town · Ryozanji Temple
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Okayama Prefecture Tourism Federation (Okayama Kanko WEB) · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Fri, Aug 14, 2026 （Ended） From late at night into the early hours of the next morning
- 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 Held from late at night on the 14th into the early hours of the 15th
- Venue
- Ryozanji Temple
- City
- Misaki Town, Okayama
About
From the middle of the night until dawn, Ryozanji Temple in Misaki holds a strange and gripping rite. The guardian deity Nijozan Chinju Goho Zenjin, protector of the Buddhist teachings and the temple, is called down into a vessel known as the gohozane and is then said to play in the precincts. At the climax the gohozane runs wildly around the pitch-dark grounds, and onlookers flee so as not to be caught. It has been held more than 700 times and is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Okayama Prefecture. By car it is about 40 minutes from the Innosho exit of the Chugoku Expressway; from JR Kamenoko Station, a taxi takes about 20 minutes.
Sources
- OfficialOkayama Prefecture Tourism Federation (Okayama Kanko WEB) www.okayama-kanko.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.