Terukuni Rokugatsudo: Lantern Nights in Kagoshima City

Summer in Kagoshima begins with lantern light. Rokugatsudo takes its name from the sixth month of the old lunar calendar, and today it is a season rather than a single event: through July, shrines and temples all over the prefecture each pick their own date and hang lanterns. The largest is held at Terukuni Shrine in central Kagoshima City on 15 and 16 July, timed to the anniversary of the death of the lord enshrined there. Around 800 painted lanterns fill the grounds and roughly 100,000 people come through.

Eight Hundred Painted Lanterns

As the light fades, look up the approach from beneath the tall white torii gate and you see rows of lanterns, each a wooden frame covered in washi paper. The paintings are mostly the work of local children, from nursery age through high school. Fish, fireworks, Sakurajima, family faces, and here and there a single bold character. When the light comes through the paper, the thickness of the paint becomes the thickness of the shadow, and the colours read deeper than they would in daylight.

Each lantern has a different painter, so no two are alike. When a breeze moves through, the paper rustles and the whole line of light sways.

Food Stalls and the Lord Nariakira

Stalls pack the approach and the grounds: shaved ice syrup, the clatter of takoyaki griddles, the splash of goldfish scooping tanks. Families in yukata and knots of high school students drift along in a crowd that only ever moves at walking pace.

Deeper in stands a bronze statue of Shimazu Nariakira, the lord who drove Kagoshima industrial modernisation late in the Edo period, and beyond it the main hall. Terukuni Shrine was founded in 1864, the year after Nariakira was granted the divine title Terukuni Daimyojin. The buildings were lost in the Satsuma Rebellion and again in wartime bombing, and the present hall dates from 1958.

Where the Custom Came From

Rokugatsudo is said to have begun when Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the 19th head of the Shimazu house, had a great many lanterns lit at the Kannon hall of Kamiyamadera in Shinshoin. Ordinary people followed his example and began dedicating lanterns to shrines and temples. In parishioner households the wooden frames are kept from year to year, and fresh washi paper carrying that year painting is pasted on before the lantern is offered. Once July arrives, Rokugatsudo is held on almost consecutive nights around the city until the end of the month.

Tips for Visiting

With about 100,000 visitors over two days, the approach grows more crowded the later it gets. If you want to look properly at the lanterns, aim for the window just after sunset, when the lights are on but blue still hangs in the sky. That is also when photographs work best.

You will be walking on stone steps and gravel, so if you wear yukata, consider footwear you can actually walk in. Mid July in Kagoshima stays humid well into the night, and a drink and a towel are worth carrying. With small children, plan a pause on the more open ground behind the main hall. Visiting Shiroyama and the site of Tsurumaru Castle during the day makes an evening at a shrine dedicated to Nariakira much more meaningful.

Getting There

Terukuni Shrine sits in Terukuni-cho, just northwest of the Tenmonkan entertainment district. It is about a 5 minute walk from the Tenmonkan-dori tram stop, or about 3 minutes from the Saigo Statue stop on the Kagoshima City View sightseeing bus. There is parking for cars in the grounds, but during the two nights the surrounding streets are heavily congested, so the tram or bus is the reliable choice.

Practical Information

• Dates: 15 and 16 July every year, timed to 16 July, the anniversary of the death of the enshrined lord Shimazu Nariakira
• Venue: Terukuni Shrine, 19-35 Terukuni-cho, Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture
• Enquiries: Terukuni Shrine, 099-222-1820
• Access: about 5 minutes on foot from the Tenmonkan-dori tram stop; about 3 minutes from the Saigo Statue stop on the Kagoshima City View bus
• Parking: available in the shrine grounds, but very congested on festival days, so public transport is easier
• Official website: https://terukunijinja.jp/

* Dates, details and prices are subject to change. Please check the official website before you go.

(Sources: Terukuni Shrine official website, Kagoshima Prefecture Shrine Agency official website, Kagoshima City official tourism website, Kagoshima Prefecture official tourism website)