Location: Kado, Mitane Town
Site(s) of performance: The house of the guardian of the lion head and Shōanji Temple
Date(s): A day in June, August 13, and early November
Designation: Town-Designated Intangible Folkloric Cultural Property
Category: Sasara and Horse Dance
As its name suggests, the Satake-Yamaya Sasara has much to do with Lord Satake, the ruler of Akita Domain. In 1681, when Lord Satake Yoshizumi visited Yamaya for regular inspections, villagers offered him a hawk, which pleased him very much. In return, the lord taught them the sasara dance and also granted them two flags and a lion head. In addition to the Sasara-Kantō dance, which was brought to Akita with the Satake family in 1602, there was also the Sasara-Yuzawa dance, the Yuzawa variant of the sasara. Both of them were brought to Yamaya on that occasion. These two variants of the sasara dance had some differences, but today only the Sasara-Kantō has been passed down.
