Once a year, a rope roughly 180 meters long gets built from scratch, on the same morning it’s used, by people who’ve been doing this since before most of the world’s current maps existed. That’s the Itoman Tug-of-War, and it happens again on September 25, 2026. If you live in Okinawa or you’re just passing through, this is one of the few local festivals where “spectator” isn’t really an option — you’re handed a rope and put to work.
🪢 A Rope With 450 Years of History
The Itoman Tug-of-War traces back roughly 450 years to the Ryukyu Kingdom era. As the story goes, the region was hit with crop failures from pest infestations and drought. Villagers organized a tug-of-war, the pests disappeared, and the harvest recovered. King Shō Ei took notice and promoted the practice across Okinawa as a religious observance tied to agricultural prosperity and public health. Four and a half centuries later, the same basic idea is still playing out on the same stretch of road.
🧵 Built From Scratch, Every Single Year
Nobody stores this rope in a warehouse between festivals. Each district weaves its own smaller cord, and on the morning of the event those cords are combined into a single rope about 180 meters long. It’s a community-built object with a hard deadline, finished the same day it’s used and never reused.
🎭 The Parade Comes First
Before the main pull, there’s a road procession called dōjunē, working its way toward the rope with Eisa drumming, Kumi-odori performance, and hatagashira flag bearers. It’s worth showing up early for this part alone — it sets the tone for everything that follows.
🙌 Everyone Pulls — Locals and Visitors Alike
This event goes by two other names: Suninjina and Manninjina, both of which translate roughly to “the rope for everyone.” Kids, adults, longtime residents, and first-time visitors are all welcome to grab on and pull. Because the date is fixed to the lunar calendar’s 8th month, 15th day, it doesn’t move for weekdays or holidays — local schools sometimes shorten their schedules around it, and plenty of residents take the day off work to be there.
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Where and When 📆
📍 Hakugin-dō, Itoman Rotary area,
〒901-0361 Okinawa Prefecture, Itoman City, Itoman 23
📆 September 25, 2026 (Friday) — lunar calendar 8th month, 15th day (Jūguya, Full Moon Festival)
🍧 While You’re in the Area
Near the rotary, Maru-mitsu is a long-running spot for Okinawan zenzai and other local specialties, worth a stop before or after the pull. Hakugin-dō itself is regarded as Itoman’s guardian shrine, historically tied to maritime safety and financial fortune. If you want the fuller story behind the rope, Kukuru Itoman has a permanent exhibit on the city’s tug-of-war traditions, with visual displays and models. Same-city bonus: the Maesato Tug-of-War also takes place on this exact lunar date, so a single trip can cover two versions of the same tradition.
For anyone new to Okinawa — whether you’re here for a week or stationed on-island for a year still figuring out what to do on a weekend — this is a good entry point into something that’s actually rooted here, not staged for an audience. The rope gets rebuilt every year by the same communities, for the same reasons, and for one evening they let outsiders grab on too. That’s a rare invitation.
Put September 25 on your calendar. For more local events happening around Okinawa this week, check out https://www.okisocial.com/category/events/.
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Disclaimer
⚠️Disclaimer: Our passion for supporting local businesses drives us to share information about events in the Okinawa area. Please note that Oki Social is not responsible for hosting this event. It’s important to be aware that the event’s host reserves the right to make changes or even cancel the event without prior notice. Some photos and videos may come from various sources on the internet, whether official or unofficial. It is possible that some photos and videos may have been taken from the same event in previous occurrences.
