Village festival

Horse dancing in full style

I’m touring the delightful World Heritage Site of Shirakami Sanchi at the moment, noted for its mountainous virgin beech forests, in the northern part of Tohoku. On the way I happened to come across a festival near the World Heritage Center at Fujisato. The community likes to think of itself as a town, but it’s really a few villages cobbled together for administrative expediency.  The festival is put on by the Asama Shrine and is known as Koma odori matsuri (Horse dance festival).

It started about 400 years ago when a Lord Satake was exiled by the Mito clan to this area (now the northern part of Akita prefecture).  The lord was disgruntled at being sent away to such an isolated and uncivilised part of the world, so as consolation and to cheer him up his followers put on an entertainment in which they danced around as horses.  It was such a success that it’s been continued every year since.

Some kind of animal, but are they lions or birds?

Before the horses got into their stride, there was a vigorous dance which I was told was a Shishi-mai.  I’ve seen that many times before in the form of a long-maned Chinese-style shishi (lion), but in this case the dancers clearly had bird feathers on them and looked more like hawks.  I couldn’t help wondering if this wasn’t some remnant of an ancient shamanistic dance, the origins of which had been lost in the mists of time, for it reminded me of a shaman’s crow dance I once saw in Siberia.

The festival takes place on September 8, when it’s usually pleasant weather in Tohoku.  This year however the lingering summer heat made it unpleasant for those dancing – and even for those watching who couldn’t find shade.  It must have been about 30 degrees, and the heavy costumes were clearly not meant for summertime prancing.  Many of the young participants were suffering badly in the heat, desperate for a drink and in some cases wilting badly.  I guess the festival this year helped towards deepening the spirit of gaman(endurance) which all the world noticed and applauded in the aftermath of the terrible Tohoku tragedy of last year!

The musicians were mainly female, in contrast to the manly horses

A horseman taking a puff before his turn. Some of the dancing was pretty vigorous...

... and some of the participants needed a big drink to cope with the heat.

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For a video with music of the dancing, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDQtUSKIszw