murmurHokkoji Gohanshiki (Forced Rice-Eating Ritual)
Kanuma City · Hokkoji Community Hall (Folk Culture Preservation Hall) and Myoken Shrine
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Tochigi Prefectural Tourism and Local Products Association (Tochigi Tabi-Net) · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Cancelled
- 2027
- Sun, Jan 3, 2027 Shrine rite 9:00–10:00, Gohanshiki 10:00–11:30
- Usual timing
- Usually early January
- How the date is set
- Every year on January 3
- Venue
- Hokkoji Community Hall (Folk Culture Preservation Hall) and Myoken Shrine
- City
- Kanuma City, Tochigi
About
In the Hokkoji district of Kanuma, villagers keep a Gohanshiki, a forced-feasting ritual designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. It belongs to the line of the Gohanshiki at Rinnoji Temple in Nikko and is said to go back to the mid-fourteenth century. The ceremony hands festival duties at Myoken Shrine on to the next hosts: after a Shinto rite at the shrine, everyone moves to the Hokkoji community hall for the handover. A drumbeat brings out mountain ascetics in splendid robes and stern strongmen wearing straw sashes, who chant "33 cups of sake, 5 of hot water and 75 bowls of rice" while urging heaping bowls of rice on the festival's representatives and guests. The strongmen hold forked sticks to their targets' necks, yet the comic lines keep the audience laughing. In 2026 only the shrine rite took place, and the Gohanshiki was cancelled.
Sources
- OfficialTochigi Prefectural Tourism and Local Products Association (Tochigi Tabi-Net) www.tochigiji.or.jp
- OfficialKanuma City Tourism Association kanuma-kanko.jp
Last checked: Oct 10, 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.