UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Ayako Dance

About this event

The Ayako Dance (Ayako Odori), handed down in the Sabun district of Manno Town, has been performed since ancient times as a rainmaking dance during droughts. In recent years, it has been dedicated to Kamo Shrine every other year (next scheduled for 2026) on a Sunday between late August and early September by the Sabun Ayako Odori Preservation Society. On November 30, 2022, at the 17th Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Morocco, it was inscribed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage as one of the 'Furyu-odori' dances. This was the first such inscription in Shikoku. As for the dance procedure, first the boufuri (stick swingers) and naginata (pole weapon) swingers perform a purification dialogue facing the four directions of the dance grounds. Next, the dance troupe forms a formation, and a genji (master of ceremonies) dressed in haori and hakama wearing a hanagasa (flower hat) and holding a large uchiwa fan gives a prologue speech to start the dance. There are 12 songs in the repertoire, such as 'Mizu no Odori,' 'Shikokubune,' 'Ayako Odori,' and 'Shinobi no Odori,' and each develops to the accompaniment (hayashi) of taiko drums, flutes, tsuzumi hand drums, and kane gongs matching each kouta short song. Dancers are divided into groups: ko-odori (small dance), oo-odori (large dance), and gawa-odori (side dance). Among the dancers, all ko-odori and oo-odori are males dressed as females, featuring artistic styles that evoke early Edo period Kabuki dances. The cross-dressing male dancers dressed in colorful furisode kimonos are distinctive, and the songs sung are said to strongly retain traces of onna-kabuki (female kabuki) from the early modern period.

Venue

Sabun Kamo Shrine

523 Sabun, Manno, Nakatado District, Kagawa 769-0301