On 13 August 2026, around 18,000 fireworks are due to rise over the Kanmon Strait, launched at the same time from both banks: Moji, on the Kitakyushu side in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, and Shimonoseki, in Yamaguchi Prefecture on the island of Honshu. The two cities run it as two separate events on one night, under one name. At its narrowest the strait is barely 700 metres across, which means the channel fills from both directions at once.
WHY THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT
Almost every large fireworks display in Japan gives you a single launch point and a single direction to face. Here there are two, on opposite shores, in different prefectures, on different islands. Wherever you stand, roughly half the show is happening across the water from you and reflecting in the channel between. Organisers on both sides describe it as the only fireworks festival in Japan staged across a strait and a prefectural boundary, and that structure – not the shell count – is what people travel for.
The setting carries its own weight. The Kanmon Strait is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the country. On an ordinary evening you watch tankers and container ships thread a passage narrow enough to make out faces on the far bank. On the night of the 13th that traffic stops and the channel becomes the stage instead: the Kanmon Bridge overhead, the lights of two cities on either side, and the shells above the water in between. Beneath all of it is Dan-no-ura, where the Genpei War ended in 1185 with the destruction of the Taira clan – the battle that turned Japan from a court society into a warrior one.
The date does not move. It has been 13 August since the beginning, because the display began as a mukaebi – the fire lit at Obon to guide the returning dead home – for the spirits of those who lie in this strait and for the families coming back to the two cities. Shimonoseki started it alone in 1985; Moji began launching from its own shore in 1988, and the two have run it jointly ever since. 2026 is the 39th edition.
WHAT YOU WILL SEE
The two shores programme separately. Shimonoseki opens with a musical sequence and builds through ten large set pieces, including suichu-hanabi – shells fired low so they open as half-spheres on the surface of the water, a form the strait makes possible and a river cannot. It also runs forty 10-go shells (30cm) in succession, eight recovery-prayer “phoenix” shells, and closes with two 15-go shells. A drone show, run by a separate organiser, precedes the fireworks from 19:45; it is not visible from every viewing area.
Moji launches around 7,500 shells to Shimonoseki’s 10,500. The Moji side has the added draw of Mojiko Retro, the harbour district around the station where the early-20th-century port architecture has been preserved and is lit at night.
BOOK A SEAT – THERE IS NO FREE VIEWING
This is the single most important thing to understand before you travel. On the Moji side every area along the water is a paid supporter area; the organisers state plainly that there is no free viewing space and that you cannot enter without a ticket. On the Shimonoseki side there is no free section inside the paid charity areas either. Arriving without a ticket and expecting to find a spot on the waterfront does not work here.
Tickets are also not interchangeable between the two cities – a Moji ticket will not admit you in Shimonoseki, or the reverse – and because the money is structured as a supporter contribution rather than a ticket sale, there are no refunds, including if the event is called off. Decide which shore you want before you book. The two are linked by ferry, by rail and by the Kanmon pedestrian tunnel, but moving between them on the night is not realistic.
- Date: 13 August 2026 (Thursday), 39th edition. Held on 13 August every year
- Scale: About 18,000 shells in total – approx. 7,500 from Moji, approx. 10,500 from Shimonoseki
- Programme: Shimonoseki side: drone show 19:45, fireworks 20:00-20:50. Moji side times announced separately
- Launched from: Both shores – Moji, Kitakyushu (Kyushu) and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi (Honshu)
- Tickets: Required. No free viewing areas on either shore. Not valid across cities. Non-refundable, including if cancelled
- Moji prices: Supporter chair seat 6,500 yen; premium chair 11,000 yen; lawn chair 8,500 yen; standing area 1,100 yen in advance / 2,000 yen on the day. Reserved boxes from 30,000 yen for five
- Shimonoseki prices: Charity areas 2,000-3,000 yen; sponsor area 5,000 yen; reserved boxes from 45,000 yen for six
- Weather: Held in rain; cancelled in high wind. Final decision announced on the day on the official sites
- Access: Mojiko Station, 5 min on foot. Shimonoseki Station, 15-20 min on foot. No parking at either venue
- Official Info: kanmon-hanabi.love (Moji) / shimonoseki21c.jp (Shimonoseki)
GETTING THERE, AND GETTING BACK
Kitakyushu is the first Kyushu stop on the Sanyo Shinkansen – about 15 minutes from Shin-Shimonoseki and 20 minutes from Hakata – which makes this one of the easiest major fireworks displays in Japan to reach by rail. Mojiko Station is a short local ride from Kokura. Neither venue has parking, and roads around Mekari and the waterfront close from around midday.
Two practical warnings. Arrive early: the Moji organisers ask visitors to reach Mojiko Station between 17:00 and 18:00, and note that people who arrive at 19:00 routinely fail to reach the site at all. And buy your return ticket in advance – Shimonoseki is in the ICOCA IC-card area and Moji is in the SUGOCA area, so an IC card will not process a journey that crosses between them. Trains afterwards are extremely crowded; many visitors stay the night in Kitakyushu or Shimonoseki rather than travel on.
Sources: Kanmon Kaikyo Fireworks Executive Committee Moji, Shimonoseki 21st Century Association, Fukuoka Prefecture Tourism Association #WestGoldenRoute #Kitakyushu #Kanmon #Fireworks #Nukumori