Location: Kotsunagi, Futatsui-machi, Noshiro City
Site(s) of performance: Various places in the community
Date(s): August 13
Designation: City-Designated Intangible Folkloric Cultural Property
Category: Sasara and Horse Dance
When Lord Satake was relegated from Hitachi Province (in present-day Ibaraki Prefecture) to Akita in 1602, some people performed a kind of dance which later became the lion dance in Akita. Those people settled in Hiyama (Noshiro City) and taught young men from Dōji (Noshiro City) how to dance. Jōshū is an alias of Hitachi Province, and Jōshū-Kudaru means to come down from Hitachi Province. The lion dance was propagated to various communities of Akita from Dōji. The horse dance was later added when people learned it from Hachimantai (former Aikawa Town). A paper scroll that records the history of the lion dance here is safeguarded with great care.
