Location: Kakumagawa-machi, Daisen City
Site(s) of performance: Kakumagawa Main Street
Date(s): August 16
Designation: City-Designated Intangible Folkloric Cultural Property
Category: Bon Dance
This dance is performed on a street, Kakumagawa Main Street, for it was the tradition here to perform the dance in front of the residences of the local landlords: namely, the Hongō family, the Kitashima family, and the Arakawa family. A bonfire is set up on the street and people dance around it in a circle. There used to be the Asahi Dance and Nikawa Dance. The Asahi Dance was performed to appease the spirit of a shrine maiden who was buried alive to stop the flood of the Omonogawa River. The name of the dance came from the Asahi mound that was set up to appease that shrine maiden’s spirit. The Nikawa Dance was a comic improvising dance. In 1930, combining the two dances, Fujita Shōhachi invented a new dance for Kakumagawa, which has been passed down to date. Music is played with big drums, small drums, and Japanese flutes.

About Bon Dance