murmurKatsube Fire Festival
Moriyama City · Katsube Shrine
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 January
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Held every January; a fire festival also takes place the same night at Sumiyoshi Shrine in nearby Fuke-cho
- Venue
- Katsube Shrine
- City
- Moriyama City, Shiga
About
On a winter night, huge torches blaze at Katsube Shrine in Moriyama as people pray to stay healthy through the year. The flames leaping up in the dark grounds are an impressive sight. The torches stand for the body of a giant serpent: in a Kamakura-period legend, a serpent that had possessed Emperor Tsuchimikado was killed and burned, the emperor got well, and the body fell in Katsube while the head flew to Fuke. Sumiyoshi Shrine in Fuke accordingly burns a torch for the head. The two shrines' fire festivals are together an intangible folk cultural property selected by Shiga Prefecture. Katsube Shrine is about 10 minutes on foot from JR Moriyama Station on the Biwako Line.
Sources
- OfficialBiwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga Tourism Official Site) www.biwako-visitors.jp
- Reference夜空を焦がす竜の炎！800年続く「火まつり」守山2神社で催行（勝部・住吉の火まつり）｜滋賀県 www.pref.shiga.lg.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.