Despite scads of rain, June isn’t all bad. There are hydrangeas, cool nights, and —best of all — tiny flying insects with lit-up bums. I mean, of course, fireflies. There are a few spots in Kamakura to see the bright little bugs, but most are not so easy to get to in the dark.
Luckily, the city’s main shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, holds a firefly festival in early June. The Hotaru Matsuri, which begins on June 10th (Sunday) this year (2018), is part of the shrine’s environmental protection and improvement activities.
On the evening of the 10th, Shinto priests will perform a ceremony, and fireflies raised from larvae in the shrine’s pond will be released. There will also be music, and dances performed by miko (shrine maidens).
For about a week after the firefly release, they’ll flit about the pond area, before disappearing for another year.
Time: Sundown until 8.30pm
Place: Yanagihara-Shinchi pond, by Wakamiya Shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu (A map of the shrine grounds can be found here. Wakamiya Shrine is #15.)
Keep in mind a few requests from the shrine, as per their information page from 2017’s event:
*no lighting devices are permitted, including smartphones, as light will cause the fireflies to stop glowing
*photos are not permitted on the path around the pond
Information from last year’s festival is here.
鎌倉ペンション・Inn By The Sea Kamakura 