Tanabata Dance (Taiko Drum Dance)

About this event

Held in Ichikikushikino City, 'Tanabata Dance (Taiko Drum Dance)' is a traditional performing art said to have originated about 400 years ago to commemorate Lord Yoshihiro Shimazu's military campaign to the Korean Peninsula. It is held in the Ichiki Ozato area on the Sunday closest to August 7 of the modern solar calendar (the delayed traditional Tanabata). Dedicated to various deities and ancestral spirits, this dance is a grand festival praying for a bountiful harvest, faithfully passed down for about 300 years under strict discipline. It is also designated as a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. A unique feature of the Tanabata Dance is that Orihime and Hikoboshi do not appear; instead, it consists of taiko drum dancing and a parade of giant animal papier-mache figures. For the taiko drum dance, all participants wear flower hats (hanagasa) and dance to songs with a leisurely rhythm. The procession features giant papier-mache figures (tsukuimon) of a deer, a tiger, a cow, and a crane, each telling a story: a dialogue between the deer and a deer catcher, a battle between the tiger and a tiger hunter, a handstand by the cow, and the friendly demeanor of the crane. Following the papier-mache figures are a feudal lord procession (daimyo gyoretsu), a Ryukyu king procession, and a naginata polearm procession, representing the sankin-kotai system and traditional Ryukyuan dances. The climax is the 'Taiko Dance' performed by all participants wearing flower hats, closing the festival in an antique and solemn atmosphere. It is said that anyone born in the area will drum the taiko, and with many participants traveling from outside the prefecture, it remains a precious traditional performing art protected collectively by the local community.

Venue

Ozato

Ozato, Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima 899-2103