murmurMinakuchi Hikiyama Festival
Koka City · Minakuchi Shrine and surrounding neighborhoods
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Biwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga Tourism Official Site) · 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 April
- How the date is set
- Every year, April 19 – April 20 April 19 is the eve festival; April 20 is the main festival
- Venue
- Minakuchi Shrine and surrounding neighborhoods
- City
- Koka City, Shiga
About
Minakuchi Shrine in Koka holds this festival as an eve on April 19 and a grand festival on April 20. The ornate hikiyama floats are the main attraction, with spirited Minakuchi-bayashi music played from inside them. On April 19 the portable shrine is displayed at the shrine, and every neighborhood strings lanterns on its float and plays eve music. On the morning of April 20 the floats first gather in one place and then move to the shrine together; the portable shrine goes out in the afternoon, and toward evening the floats, lanterns lit, head back to their own neighborhoods in the "kaeriyama." Begun by townspeople in the mid-Edo period, the festival is an intangible folk cultural property of Shiga Prefecture. Minakuchi-Jonan Station on the Ohmi Railway is about a 5-minute walk away.
Sources
- OfficialBiwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga Tourism Official Site) www.biwako-visitors.jp
- OfficialKoka City Tourism Association koka-kanko.org
- Reference滋賀県甲賀市で「水口曳山祭」宵宮祭 曳山16基の提灯に灯、街中を彩る（京都新聞） www.kyoto-np.co.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.