Yatsushiro Myoken Matsuri 2026: Kumamoto UNESCO Autumn Parade

Forty groups, nine towering canopied floats and a mythical creature that is half turtle and half snake work their way six kilometres across a Kumamoto city, ending with horsemen charging through a river bed.

Overview

The Myoken Matsuri is the autumn rite of Yatsushiro Shrine, still widely called Myoken-gu, and has been held for roughly 380 years. It is one of the three great festivals of Kyushu. In 2011 the procession was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan, and in 2016 it was inscribed on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list as one of the 33 float festivals grouped together as Yama, Hoko and Yatai events.

It is unusually varied for a Japanese festival. Alongside the expected palanquins and floats there are lion dancers, decorated horses, and a costume creature called the kida – locally the game – which fuses a turtle shell with a snake head and lurches about to great effect. Around 165,000 people came over the two days of a recent edition.

When and where

The dates are fixed to the calendar rather than the week, so in 2026 the festival runs on Sunday 22 and Monday 23 November – the second of which is Labour Thanksgiving Day, a public holiday. The 22nd brings the outward procession and the eve festival known as Goya, which starts around 17:30 in the Hommachi shopping arcade with the festival floats on display and traditional performances. The 23rd is the main day: the return procession leaves Shioya Hachimangu at 7:30, performs in front of Yatsushiro Station between about 9:00 and 11:30, and covers roughly six kilometres to Yatsushiro Shrine.

Getting there

Take the Kyushu Shinkansen to Shin-Yatsushiro, about 15 minutes from Kumamoto and under two hours from Hakata, then transfer for the short hop to Yatsushiro Station, which sits directly on the parade route. By car it is a few minutes from the Yatsushiro interchange on the Kyushu Expressway; on the 23rd the city opens temporary car parks with a shuttle service, and the streets around the shrine are closed to traffic.

What to expect

The main viewing ground is Tosaki-no-kawara, a broad stretch of the Kuma river bed, where from about 12:30 all forty groups are introduced one after another, led by the lion. This is where the festival earns its reputation: the kida charges the crowd, the nine kasaboko floats are paraded in full ornament, and riders drive decorated horses down the riverbed at speed, throwing up spray. Around 1,700 people take part.

The parade is long, so the same groups can be seen several times if you move between the station, the arcade and the river. The shrine itself has a small exhibition hall where the floats and the kida are kept and can be seen outside festival season.

Admission and practicalities

There is no charge to watch. The general viewing area on the riverbank steps is the best vantage point and fills early; in recent years the organisers have controlled the claiming of places there, including by drawing lots for entry order, so check the official site in the weeks before if you want a seat rather than a standing spot behind it.

Access and map

Source: Yatsushiro Myoken Festival Preservation Society (official)
Image: Photo: Undokai Protein Power / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 – Yatsushiro Shrine, where the procession ends