murmurHamamatsu Matsuri (Kite Festival)
Hamamatsu City · Nakatajima Kite Field and central Hamamatsu
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Hamamatsu Matsuri Organizing Committee · Last checked: Oct 11, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- May 3–5, 2026 （Ended） Confirmed from the official annual schedule and Shizuoka Shimbun (@S)’s notice for that year
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually early May
- How the date is set
- Every year, May 3 – May 5
- Venue
- Nakatajima Kite Field and central Hamamatsu
- City
- Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka
About
For three days over Golden Week, all of Hamamatsu joins in its citizens' festival. It is not a shrine or temple rite but a city festival that grew from hatsudako, the custom of flying a kite for a newborn first child, and in recent years over 170 neighborhoods have taken part. Days belong to the Nakatajima kite field, where giant neighborhood kites ride the wind, families raise kites for first-borns, and teams go at each other in heated line-cutting battles. At night the scene shifts downtown, as carved palace-style floats roll through the streets with festival music. Kite flying here is noted in Edo-period records; the kite battles at Nakatajima were revived shortly after the war, and the name Hamamatsu Matsuri came later. It is a bold festival shaped by the region's strong winds.
Sources
- OfficialHamamatsu Matsuri Organizing Committee hamamatsu-daisuki.net
- Date checkShizuoka Shimbun (@S) www.at-s.com
- Reference浜松まつり［浜松市中央区］｜静岡新聞アットエス www.at-s.com
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.