murmurOtawara Yatai Festival
Otawara City · Central Otawara (around the Kintoro intersection)
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Otawara Yatai Festival Executive Committee · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Apr 18–19, 2026 （Ended） Butsukke music battles around 19:00 on the eve and around 18:00 on the main day
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid April
- How the date is set
- The 3rd Saturday of April Third Saturday and Sunday of April (Saturday is the eve festival, Sunday the main day)
- Venue
- Central Otawara (around the Kintoro intersection)
- City
- Otawara City, Tochigi
About
Otawara's spring festival has accompanied the rites of Otawara Shrine since the Edo period. Nine neighborhoods of the old town bring out gorgeous floats, finely carved with flowers, birds and Chinese lions, and pull them through the city center. The thing to watch is buttsuke, when floats edge so close they nearly touch and the drummers and flute players inside try to drown each other out. On the eve, all 9 floats gather at night around the Kintoro intersection and their music rings out together. On the main day the street becomes a car-free festival plaza where the floats are hauled about, and the evening buttsuke sends the excitement to its peak.
Sources
- OfficialOtawara Yatai Festival Executive Committee www.ohtawara.jp
- OfficialOtawara Yatai Festival Executive Committee www.ohtawara.jp
- OfficialTochigi Prefectural Tourism and Local Products Association (Tochigi Tabi Net) www.tochigiji.or.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.