Location: Yokkamachi, Yokote City
Site(s) of performance: From each district in the town of Yokkamachi to Janosaki Bridge
Date(s): August 15 and 16
Designation: Prefecture-Designated Intangible Folkloric Cultural Property
Category: Taiko-Furyū and Matsuri-Bayashi
Yokote Bayashi today is not music for a Shinto festival but for the folkloric rituals of Obon. It is played when people see off the spirits of the ancestors at the end of the Obon days in August. It is assumed that the saisai music in the area was introduced here and became Yokote Bayashi. Music is played with drums, Japanese flutes, and gongs. Drums are installed on a small roofed yatai float. As the yatai float goes around the community, the musicians follow it and play Yokote Bayashi.
