{"id":178719,"date":"2026-07-21T17:30:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T08:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=event&#038;p=178719&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T06:38:20","slug":"yamaga-toro-festival-26","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/event\/yamaga-toro-festival-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Yamaga Toro Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of Kumamoto\u2019s signature summer festivals, the Yamaga Toro Festival bathes the historic town of Yamaga in the soft glow of traditional lanterns. Rooted in the traditions of Omiya Shrine, the festival is renowned for Yamaga Toro\u2014delicate lanterns crafted entirely from washi paper and glue\u2014and for the elegant Toro Odori, in which women dressed in yukata dance with golden lanterns balanced on their heads.<\/p>\n<p>The festival\u2019s highlight is the Sennin Toro Odori (Thousand Lantern Dance) on the evening of August 16, when around 1,000 dancers move gracefully to the traditional Yoheho-bushi, creating one of Kyushu\u2019s most enchanting summer spectacles. Throughout the festival, visitors can also view lantern offerings dedicated to the shrine, watch additional lantern dance performances, and stroll through Yamaga\u2019s atmospheric hot spring district.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-178668\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fn_yamaga-toro-fes_2026_cl-001.jpg?resize=1400%2C932&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Yamaga Toro Festival, \u5c71\u9e7f\u706f\u7c60\u307e\u3064\u308a\" width=\"1400\" height=\"932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fn_yamaga-toro-fes_2026_cl-001.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fn_yamaga-toro-fes_2026_cl-001.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fn_yamaga-toro-fes_2026_cl-001.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fn_yamaga-toro-fes_2026_cl-001.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #800000;\">Due to the impact of the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake, the 2026 Yamaga Toro Festival will be limited to Shinto rituals and related ceremonies at Omiya Shrine. The Noryo Fireworks Festival, the Sennin Toro Odori (Thousand Lantern Dance), and the Festival Plaza events have been canceled.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aug 15, 2026 (Sat), Aug 16, 2026 (Sun)<\/li>\n<li>Sennin Toro Odori: Aug 16 (Sun) 20:00~21:00 (Gates open 18:30)<\/li>\n<li>Free viewing (<a href=\"https:\/\/ticket.rakuten.co.jp\/features\/toromatsuri\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reserved seats available for a fee<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/4ZdvhbvaiA8mGamr6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Central Yamaga City<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/b89XucD8rsige7bbA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yamaga Elementary School Ground<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Yamaga, Yamaga City, Kumamoto<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/yamaga-tanbou.jp\/about\/toromatsuri\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of Kumamoto\u2019s signature summer festivals, the Yamaga Toro Festival bathes the historic town of Yamaga in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30291,"featured_media":178668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-178719","event","type-event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-yamaga","event-type-festival","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/178719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}