Shimoyado Hayashi (Hachiman Shrine)
"Shimoyado Bayashi" is a festival music tradition in the Kanda style performed annually at Shimoyado Hachiman Shrine on April 23 (Spring Festival) and September 14 and 15 (Fall Festival).It is performed as an offering to pray for a bountiful harvest and good health.” The performance features the okan (long-bodied drum), tsuke (small drum), flute, gong, and clappers, accompanied by dances such as the Okame, Hyottoko, lion, celestial fox, and Gedo. It is said that the festival music was learned in the early Meiji period from a candy seller known as “Ame-Kisa,” who had come from Asakusa. Ame-Kisa, whose real name was “Kisaburō,” is said to have mastered the entire repertoire […]
Kiyoto Lion Dance (Hie Shrine)
It is said that the Kiyoto Lion Dance originated when a lion head was passed down to the Kiyoto Gashuku community, and it later became a festival in Naka-Kiyoto to pray for a bountiful harvest and ward off misfortune. It is held every year on the Sunday around July 15 at Hie Shrine. This “dance” begins with a procession that departs from the center of Nakaseito and heads along the Shiki Kaido toward Hie Shrine. The Mountain God leads the procession, dancing as he goes, while the Female Lion, Medium Lion, and Large Lion parade along to the sound of flutes and drumbeats, building anticipation for the dance to follow.In […]