murmurSagicho Festival
Omihachiman City · Himure Hachimangu 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 confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Mar 14–15, 2026 （Ended） Mar 14: 12:30–17:30; Mar 15: 10:30 to about 22:40
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid March
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Held over a Saturday and Sunday in mid-March
- Venue
- Himure Hachimangu Shrine
- City
- Omihachiman City, Shiga
About
This fire festival at Himure Hachimangu Shrine in Omihachiman runs over a Saturday and Sunday and is a nationally selected intangible folk cultural property. On Saturday afternoon more than ten sagicho, about 6 meters high, head out from the shrine, carried through town by young people wearing makeup, matching happi coats and red geta, shouting "Choyare!" On Sunday they tour the neighborhoods from the morning, and in the afternoon the sagicho crash into one another in "fights." From around 8 p.m. they are set on fire one after another in the shrine grounds, the climax of the festival. Each sagicho is a straw cone about 3 meters tall, topped with green bamboo dressed mainly in red paper and a centerpiece themed on the year's zodiac animal, all made with plenty of time and money.
Sources
- OfficialBiwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga Tourism Official Site) www.biwako-visitors.jp
- OfficialOmihachiman Sagicho Preservation Society www.sagicho.net
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.
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.