murmurTaiko Mawashi Drum Rite (Katsuragawa Sokusho Myoo-in Temple)
Otsu City · Katsuragawa Sokusho Myoo-in Temple, Katsuragawa Bomura, Otsu
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Biwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga Tourism Information) · 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 July
- How the date is set
- Every year on July 18 Held on the night of July 18 every year
- Venue
- Katsuragawa Sokusho Myoo-in Temple, Katsuragawa Bomura, Otsu
- City
- Otsu City, Shiga
About
On the night of July 18, Sokusho Myoo-in, a temple in the mountains at Katsuragawa in Otsu, holds the Taiko Mawashi. Inside the main hall, local young men take turns sending a huge drum, 1.2 meters across, spinning round and round across the wooden floor. When it comes to rest, a monk climbs on top and jumps forward off it. The rite is said to portray the ascetic training of the monk Soo of Mt. Hiei, who founded the temple in the early Heian period as a training place for the Tendai practice of mountain-circling austerities. The date falls during the monks' retreat at Katsuragawa, and the night fills with the boom of the drum and the intensity of the ascetics.
Sources
- OfficialBiwako Visitors Bureau (Shiga Tourism Information) 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.