Location: Nagamine, Hachimantai, Kazuno City
Site(s) of performance: Hachiman Shrine and other places in the community
Date(s): The Saturday and Sunday closest to July 15
Designation: City-Designated Intangible Folkloric Cultural Property
Category: Furyū
Sakibarai Dance is a kind of exorcism dance that is performed before the departure of a mikoshi (a religious palanquin carrying a deity) at Shinto festivals. Around 900 years ago, Hachiman Tarō Yoshiie died of disease at Hachimantai during his Northern Campaign against the Abe clan. One of his vassals settled in Anikawa (Hachimantai City in Iwate Prefecture) and danced at rituals of the Inari Shrine. That dance was passed on to the Hachiman Shrine of Nagamine in 1887. As it first started at Anikawa, it is also called the Anikawa Dance.

About Furyū