murmurHonjo Matsuri (Kanasana Shrine Grand Festival)
Honjo City · Central Honjo (along the old Nakasendo road and other streets)
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Honjo City Tourism Association · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates not confirmed
- 2026
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early November
- How the date is set
- Every year, November 2 – November 3
- Venue
- Central Honjo (along the old Nakasendo road and other streets)
- City
- Honjo City, Saitama
About
Every November 2 and November 3, Kanasana Shrine's grand festival, cherished as Honjo's guardian-shrine festival, sends 10 floats, both historic ones and floats built in the Heisei era, along the old Nakasendo highway in late autumn. Eight of them, made between 1872 and 1924, are designated cultural properties of the city. These Edo-style floats have a doll stage and a musicians' stage, with a mechanism that raises the figures, among them Kato Kiyomasa, Yamato Takeru, Empress Jingu and Momotaro. Gold leaf, lacquered carvings, fine metalwork and showy curtains adorn them, and musicians, children among them, play graceful festival tunes. Once the lanterns are lit at dusk, the floats look even more atmospheric.
Sources
- OfficialHonjo City Tourism Association www.honjo-kanko.jp
- OfficialHonjo City www.city.honjo.lg.jp
- Reference本庄まつり公式カメラマンを募集します！｜本庄市観光協会 www.honjo-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.