murmurNaha Great Tug-of-War
Naha City · Kumoji Intersection on Route 58 and Kokusai-dori
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Naha Otsunahiki Preservation Society · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Sun, Oct 11, 2026 （Ended） Banner procession 10:25–12:55 on Kokusai-dori; tug-of-war 13:30–16:10 at Kumoji Intersection
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid October
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Every year on the Sunday before Sports Day in October; may change if a typhoon approaches
- Venue
- Kumoji Intersection on Route 58 and Kokusai-dori
- City
- Naha City, Okinawa
About
Naha's great tug-of-war carries on the contest once fought between the four old town districts of Naha in the Ryukyu Kingdom era. The straw rope is made fresh every year: a female rope from the west and a male rope from the east, each 100 m long, are locked together with a wooden pin and hauled in opposite directions. Guinness World Records once recognized it as the largest straw rope of its kind. In the morning, hatagashira banner poles parade along Kokusai-dori; in the afternoon, the tug takes place at Kumoji Intersection on Route 58. Cutting off a piece of the side ropes to take home is believed to bring happiness. Its origins are traced to around 1450; it stopped after 1935 and was revived in 1971 for Naha's 50th anniversary as a city.
Sources
- OfficialNaha Otsunahiki Preservation Society www.naha-otsunahiki.org
- OfficialOkinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (Okinawa Story) www.okinawastory.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.