murmurMando Fire Festival (Shiratori Shrine)
Higashiomi City · Shiratori Shrine and Mt. Mando, Ichiharano-cho, Higashiomi
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Biwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga tourism) · 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 mid August
- How the date is set
- Every year on August 15 August 15 every year
- Venue
- Shiratori Shrine and Mt. Mando, Ichiharano-cho, Higashiomi
- City
- Higashiomi City, Shiga
About
On the night of August 15, children in Higashiomi run a chain of burning torches down Mt. Mando to Doyashiki, a fire festival that welcomes and then sees off ancestral spirits at Obon. Everyone carrying fire is between 7 and 15 years old. The flame comes from Shiratori Shrine and is passed along torches known as "mimizu" (earthworms). What a torch is called depends on the age of the child holding it: the youngest, at 7, carry the "hatsu-taimatsu," while 15-year-olds carry the "agari-taimatsu," which can measure 2 meters across. Because the torches are bundles of rapeseed stalks, they blaze and sway wildly all the way down the slope. To get there, take a bus from Yokaichi Station (Ohmi Railway) for around 30 minutes to the Ichiharano-kami stop.
Sources
- OfficialBiwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga tourism) www.biwako-visitors.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.