murmurShirahama Shrine Annual Grand Festival
Shimoda City · Shirahama Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Shimoda City · 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 late October
- How the date is set
- Changes from year to year Late October
- Venue
- Shirahama Shrine
- City
- Shimoda City, Shizuoka
About
Every autumn, Shirahama Shrine in Shimoda, regarded as the oldest shrine in Izu, holds its grand festival in its traditional form. A fire rite first tells the gods of the Izu Islands that the festival is beginning; sanbaso, a dance designated an intangible cultural property of Shimoda, is then offered; and a closing rite of setting sacred offerings adrift reports to the gods that all has gone well. Sanbaso used to be danced at shrines across Izu, but within the city it now survives only here, carried on by local young men at the autumn festival for about three hundred years. Buses run to the shrine from Izukyu-Shimoda Station.
Sources
- OfficialShimoda City www.city.shimoda.shizuoka.jp
- OfficialShimoda City Board of Education www.city.shimoda.shizuoka.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.