🏮 Shirahama Ama Matsuri
白浜海女まつり
Minamiboso, Chiba (Nojimazaki Lighthouse Park Plaza) · Every year in late July
312 days to go
Rooms around Minamiboso, Chiba fill up while the festival is on.
The Minamiboso Shirahama Ama Matsuri is held every year on July 18 and 19 in Shirahama, Minamiboso City, Chiba Prefecture, and is the largest night festival in Chiba Prefecture. Centered on the plaza in front of Nojimazaki Lighthouse Park, it features the mikoshi (portable shrine) procession and parade of the local Itsukushima Shrine, as well as the Shirahama Great Bon Dance to long-beloved folk songs, coloring the region's traditions and summer nights. The festival's roots lie in the mikoshi of Itsukushima Shrine, long passed down in the Shirahama Shimazaki district. It was renewed in 2014, and now in its 62nd edition, it has become established as a summer tradition. The main attraction is the "Ama no Daiyaei" (Great Night Swim of the Ama), in which participants carrying torches swim in the night sea. The "Flame Picture Scroll," a collaboration of torch fire, music, video, fireworks, and the Nojimazaki Lighthouse, is spectacular, and paid viewing seats are also available. After the Shirahama Great Bon Dance starting at 19:30 on both days, fireworks provide an impressive finale.
Getting there
The venue for the Shirahama Ama Matsuri is around Nojimazaki Lighthouse Park in Shirahama-cho, Minamiboso City, Chiba Prefecture. The nearest station is Tateyama Station on the JR Uchibo Line; about 30 minutes by bus, get off at the Nojimazaki Lighthouse bus stop, then immediately adjacent. By car, about 30 minutes from Tomiura IC on the Futtsu-Tateyama Road; there is a free temporary parking lot (limited number of spaces).
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