Date: 15 April and 1 October every year
Location: 649 Oaza Yokose, Yokose-cho, Chichibu, Saitama, Japan
Access: Take Seibu Ikebukuro Line, change at Hanno 飯能 and walk 20 minutes from Yokose 横瀬 on Chichibu Line. It takes about one hour from Tokyo to Hanno, transferring at Ikebukuro 池袋.

*This article is based on October 1, 2016.

Prologue

The kagura introduced here is typical Kanto kagura, which has been handed down to the villagers. It takes about two and a half hours by train from Tokyo. In addition, it is a mountain village about 20 minutes’ walk away. Even at the tourist information centre near the station, nobody knows anything about Kagura. All they have is trekking information. Nearby is a mountain called Mt Buko 武甲山. This is a lime mining site and there are a number of cement factories dotted nearby. Kagura has been passed down quietly in such places. The first half is a ritualistic dance based on mythology. The second half gradually becomes more informal in a typical style that is more accessible to the common people.

Start

Although the start time is 10.00 am, a priestly ceremony takes place from 10.00 am. This lasts for less than an hour. Then, at around 11:00, it finally begins somewhat as everyone settles into place. This looseness is one of the good things about the Sato 里 (village) kagura.

The first stage begins with a purification dance on the stage. This is followed by a dance without masks, and then the masks of the old men appear. The Okina 翁 (old man) mask has a special aspect that is treated as a sacred mask in Noh plays.

Next to this is the dance of a woman called Ameno-uzume. Ameno-uzume was a deity who played an important role in summoning the sun goddess Amaterasu when she went into hiding, and she often appears in kagura.

Loyal fox serving the boss

Next program is Kanayama-hiko 金山彦, the god of blacksmithing, who does not play a particularly significant role in mythology but often appears in kagura. It is likely that these gods were more appreciated by the common people than the formation of a large state. The fox appears there as a subordinate. The fox is a familiar character who often appears as a messenger of God. Here, he has a dubious shape with mesh in his hair. Kanayama-hiko immediately begins to make a sword. The fox also helps with the forging. After a while, Kanayama-hiko looks sullenly at the finished sword. The fox looks at it with him, but Kanayama-hiko is still not happy with it and starts to strike again. The fox also helps. A fox who has no choice but to conform to his boss’s self-serving behaviour. There is a reason why it looks like that. The expression and gestures of the fox resting near Kanayama-hiko, who is dancing with the finished sword, seem to be saying, ‘Oh dear’.

And later, the fox also dances with him, but always one step behind, changing position to the left and to the right to match the movements of his master. When the dance is over, Kanayamahiko leaves. The fox rests at the side of the stage, huffing and puffing. However, as if to say that this is unacceptable, the music suddenly changes and he hurriedly follows his master out of the theatre. This sequence of events seems to focus on the difficulties of employee. it’s tough to be in someone’s service. It is always hard to be a palace worker.

After lunch break

After lunch, a series of iwato-opening ceremonies, also common in kagura in the Kanto region. This event is one of the biggest highlights in Japanese mythology. To put it simply, the sun goddess Amaterasu goes into hiding and the world goes dark. The troubled gods then confer, and as a result, hold a banquet and make a great fuss. Amaterasu becomes suspicious and opens the door to drag her out. The main characters are Ameno-uzume, who enlivens the banquet, and Tajikarao, who boasts of his power to open the rock door.

Open the rock door for the world

Amenouzume appears again. Usually, the Otafuku face is used as Amenouzume, but here the rather pretty face is used. Next come the gods. Then Tadikarao comes out strongly. The blue shading on his face represents a big villain in Kabuki, but here it is used to emphasise his strength. The kagura of the common people is influenced everywhere by Noh and Kabuki.

It’s tough being an employee Part 2

From here, the kagura moves a little away from mythology again. Inari, the god of agriculture, appears. This was more familiar to audiences at the time. And the famous messenger of Inari is the fox. So there are often statues of foxes at shrines dedicated to Inari (e.g. Fushimi Inari in Kyoto).

And what does he do? He is the god of agriculture, so naturally he grows rice. But the Inari God just sits there. It is the foxes who do the work. He holds the hoe, sows the seeds and ploughs the fields. Foxes, along with Tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs), are famous as animals that bewitch people, but, off course, foxes that can be used by gods are different. They are loyal to their masters and work without complaint. They cannot say they are tired.

This imagines the beginning of agriculture, so people appear. The fox has to teach the human to grow rice as well. But he is a bastard and eats the seeds he receives. This scene shows us that kagura was a form of entertainment in those days.

The foxes tie up their mouths so that human beings cannot eat them and hands-on teach him step by step and polite manner but…. It is also very hard to be available to God.

Ebisu and attendant ~Maybe it’s easier this way

The gods of the common people are Ebisu and Daikoku. Ebisu is famous as a god who fishes all the time and is also a symbol of prosperous business. An attendant appears here as well, but he is not quite the same as a fox. They do not appear to be so loyal to their duties. Yebisu fishing immediately. When he catches his catch, his followers praise him for his skill. However, he soon starts fishing himself, and eventually catches something strange.

Others ~Oroch and Oni

A number of performances follow. There is not space to introduce them all, but I would like to mention two.
One is called ‘Tamatori’, a performance that can sometimes be seen in Kanto kagura. The content is simple: an evil Oni, enchanted by a ball in the princess’s possession, comes to take it away. The main plot, however, is that the warrior deitiy soon exterminate them. However, there is a further development here. The ogres have a magical cloak and hat that allows them to disappear, making themselves invisible to the warrior gods. The ogres could have just run away, but for some reason they start tickling and messing around with Takejin. decides to take matters into his own hands and brings the demon’s mother with him, telling him: “If you don’t show yourself to me, I’ll show your mother to you instead.

The fact that Oni has a mother is a surprise, but it also takes off its own straw hat and cloak for her and allows itself to be beaten by the warrior gods. The story ends as a sad humanistic tale, with the Oni finally exiting with his mother on his back. The fact that the prototype has been handed down in such a modified form gives some indication of the temperament of the villagers of the time.

The extermination of demons is easy to understand and there are others. But what is noteworthy is the extermination of the Orochi. Compared to the spectacular and entertaining western Japan, which is strongly influenced by *Iwami kagura, the Kanto treatment is not so big, and although it has its own innovations, it is somewhat cheap.　→

There were 16 performances that day, and it was nearly 5pm when it was over. It is not necessary to see them all. But sometimes it’s not bad to see a kagura performance that touches the hearts of the villagers.

Official site https://www.town.yokoze.saitama.jp/shisetu-bunka/bunkazai/710#

Titibu 秩父

Chichibu attracts many hikers. This is because it is home to numerous shrines and temples, including Chichibu Shrine, and is also a region rich in natural beauty. Despite this, it’s conveniently located just an hour and a half from Tokyo. In particular, the pilgrimage to the 34 sites of Chichibu continues to attract many visitors to this day. While experiencing the nature and culture of Chichibu, it might be a valuable opportunity to experience the local kagura if the chance arises.

Chichibu Tourism Association https://www.chichibuji.gr.jp/

Date：　　　1st January, 14th February, 10th April, 10th October, and day of “Tori” in December, every year
Location： Washinomiya shrine Washinomiya, Kuki city, Saitama prefecture
How to get there： It takes 10 minutes from Washinomiya station (Tobu Isezaki line)

　※This kagura is consisted of 12 programs.

　※This kagura is one of 35 an important Intangible Folk Cultural Heritage by Japanese national government.

Introduction

　This kagura is called “the source of Kanto kagura” (Kanto is located in center of Honshu which is main island of Japan, and is the generic name of seven prefectures). In addition, this is one of the country designation important intangible cultural asset which there is 35.
　”Sada shinno” originally started in Shimane prefecture. A Shinto priest of Sada shrine learned Noh in Kyoto about the beginning of 17th Century, and made a new kagura (so called Sada Shinno) baced on the Noh style. This kagura is known for a distinctive element. That’s the dancer is holding thing (bell, sacred staff with cut paper (heisoku 幣束), or a sakaki leaf and so on). This style of kagura started to be called “Izumo style ” and spread out in the whole country before long. This shrine is where Izumo style was accepted first. So it is called “the source of Kanto kagura”.
　But the first document of the kagura in this shrine was recorded in about the middle of 13th century. We don’t know whether this kagura is the same kagura of today.

　I went to Washinomiya shrine on 1st January, 2015.
　Kuki city is located in Saitama orefecture, population of about 150,000. It is not very big town. It takes about 1 hour from Tokyo by Ueno-Tokyo lune (JR), changing at Kuki to Tobu line, next station being Washinomiya station.
　Washinomiya shrine is about a 10 minute-walk from Washinomiya station. We cross a red bridge on the way to the shrine. It like a cnnection between the sacred place and the regular world.

　The shrine became a holy ground of animation films in these days. so we can see many persons who wear costumes of animation characters. We can find a middle-aged man who puts on a blond wig wearing sailor uniform (high school girls style ) and skirt among them. You guess that it is quite a surreal scene. Even if it is not so, this shrine is the core of faith in this area. The number of people that gathered exceeded 400,000 in there days. The shrine is quiet in usual times, but only for three days, it becomes really crowded.

First half

　On those days, people make a long lines to pray, I passed by them and ran to the hall (kagura-den) where kagura was being performed.

　the kagura was going to start about 10 or 10:30. When I arrived at about 11:00. The kagura had already started. The kagura-den is front of the Hon-den (main hall). So many people were there, but nobody was looking at the kagura. The audience seemed to be no more than 20 persons.
　On the stage, there were one masked man and two girls. The mask showed an old man smiling gently. He dance slowly holding a bell and sacred staff with cut paper (heisoku 幣束). This kagura’s feature was in a ceremonial manner with hardly any dramatic representation.

　I guessed from the title that this program represented at the famous scene of Japanese mythology, “Amano iwato biraki” (see to “Reference/Japan mythology). In “Amano iwato biraki” all deities are pleased when “Amaterasu” (she is a deity of sun) comes out from where she was hidden in a big door of rock. But, it is difficult to understand such a state only by seeing it. It is significant to appease the Earth in every direction by the swinging the bell. This program took about 30 minutes.

　Next program is “Hakagura“. This program is where two girls dance swinging a bell. When this program is played, people sitting on the stage play music “Saibara”.”Saibara” is a popular music in Heian period (9~10 C). When we listen to these music, we don’t feel such elements. The oldest music is called “Gagaku”. I feel this music like “Gagaku”faster in tempo. I don’t know if these music remain completely at the time, but I am filled with deep emotion. I think it worth listening to once at least because you would feel the life of ancient Japanese.

　Next program is based on Japanese mythology, too. This mythology says in the beginning of time, two deities, named “Izanagi” and “Izanami” gave birth this country. So, a mobile bridge is set on a stage and two players dance across the bridge. The male deity dances powerfully, the female deity dances with grace.While changing their positions they dance around a stage. This program ended at about half past 12. Then there was an intermission.

Intermission

　There were many food stalls in the shrine precinct. After I ate lunch, I found a place where people were being fire using metal barrel. This area was surrounded by a double fence, and some people were direct cuttlefish. I thought it was a good system. Only people who bought, direct dried cuttlefish could enter in front of the fire. I saw quite a lot of people buying cuttlefish.

Second half

　Meanwhile the kagura started again at 2 o’clock.
　First program, two little girls were dancing hoiding a bell. It was short.

　Next program was based on mythology,too. When the grandson of “Amaterasu (a deity of sun)”, “Ninigi” goes down from his country “Amatsu kuni” to this earth, two deities got married with the meditation of “Ninigi”. One is a chaperon of Ninigi, named “Ameno Uzume“, and is a deity who had waited Ninigi’s group and led this coutry to safty, mnamed “Sarutahiko“.

　So, two dancers enter the stage. One wore a red face mask with long -high nose, and another wore a female mask. The dancer with the red mask is “Sarutahiko”, and the other is “Ameno Uzume”. Sarutahiko held a pike, and Ameno Uzume held a big staff which red pieace of paper. Two dancers faced each other across the bridge, changing their position like the program of “Izanagi and Izanami”. This kagura basically consists of such dancing.
　It ended at 2:20.

　After short break, next program started. Three dancers each wore a mask of “okina” (old man) with long mustache and beard. They each held fans, and danced slowly making a circle. It is said that it is to express a prayer for a peace of the world.

　After 30 minutes, the whole program for today ended.
　If you are interested in old style kagura, I recommended to watch this “Saibara kagura”. You can definitely see a noble and elegant dance program.

　　　　　For more information
　This kagura is held at “Washinomiya shrine (branch shrine)”, 15th April. It is at “Hachiho, Washinomiya town”.