murmurNabekanmuri Festival (Pot-Wearing Festival)
Maibara City · Chikuma Shrine (procession from the Chikuma otabisho)
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Maibara City · 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 May
- How the date is set
- Every year on May 3 The procession runs from the otabisho to the shrine from about 1 to 3 p.m.
- Venue
- Chikuma Shrine (procession from the Chikuma otabisho)
- City
- Maibara City, Shiga
About
During the spring festival of Chikuma Shrine in Maibara, young girls in kariginu robes walk with black papier-mâché pots on their heads. There are 8 of them, all aged 8 by the traditional count, and they join a procession from the Chikuma otabisho to the shrine before entering the main hall. Nobody is quite sure how it began; one idea is that since the deity rules over food, harvested grain was once offered in earthenware pots. The festival and its pots even appear in a poem in The Tales of Ise. It is counted as one of Japan's three most unusual festivals and is an intangible folk cultural property of Maibara. With no parking at the shrine, come by taxi from JR Maibara Station (about 10 minutes) or on foot (about 35 minutes).
Sources
- OfficialMaibara City www.city.maibara.lg.jp
- OfficialBiwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga Tourism Official Site) 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.