murmurKaro Shrine Spring Festival (Hoenya Matsuri)
Tottori City · Karo Shrine and the Karo port district along the Sendai River
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Karo Shrine · 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 April
- How the date is set
- Every year on April 29 The grand festival with the river procession by boat (Hoenya Matsuri) is held every other year
- Venue
- Karo Shrine and the Karo port district along the Sendai River
- City
- Tottori City, Tottori
About
Karo Shrine, in the Karo area of Tottori City, holds its annual festival on April 29. In alternate years it becomes the grand Hoenya Matsuri, a Tottori Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property. In those years, some 200 people, with a large portable shrine, children's shrines, feudal-lord and samurai processions and kirin lion dancers, pile onto a box-shaped boat and travel down the Sendai River to the area near Torigashima islet. The best part is watching small rowing boats crewed by made-up "Niwaka" men circle around it, chanting "Hoenya!" in unison. The festival is said to trace back to a tale of Kibi no Makibi, an envoy to Tang China, who met with disaster at sea on his return and was rescued and brought to shore by Karo's people.
Sources
- OfficialKaro Shrine karojinjya.jp
- OfficialTottori Prefecture Tourism Federation www.tottori-guide.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.