murmurHachiman Matsuri (Omihachiman Fire Festival)
Omihachiman City · Himure Hachimangu Shrine, Omihachiman
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Omihachiman Tourism Association (Official Omihachiman Tourism 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 14 – April 15 Held every year on April 14 (torch festival) and 15 (drum festival), whatever the day of the week
- Venue
- Himure Hachimangu Shrine, Omihachiman
- City
- Omihachiman City, Shiga
About
Every year on April 14 and 15, whatever the day of the week, the old villages that existed before the town of Omihachiman hold this spring festival for Himure Hachimangu Shrine. The evening of April 14 is the torch festival, a nationally selected intangible folk cultural property. From about 8 p.m., over 30 torches, some taller than 10 meters, are lit one by one, and together with fireworks they turn the sky red. Made of reeds and rapeseed stalks, the torches vary in shape and size; some are brandished overhead, others are dragged in. April 15, the main day, is also called the drum festival: in the afternoon each village's great drum enters the shrine in turn, played in a rhythm handed down in that village, and the mood is solemn compared with the night before. The festival is said to be over a thousand years old. Expect road closures and crowds, so the bus from JR Omi-Hachiman Station is the easiest way in.
Sources
- OfficialOmihachiman Tourism Association (Official Omihachiman Tourism Site) www.omi8.com
- OfficialBiwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga Official Tourism 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.