Yui Harvest Dance

About this event

The traditional event "Yui Harvest Dance" (Yui Honen Odori), held in the Yui community of Setouchi Town, Kagoshima Prefecture, gives thanks for a bountiful harvest at the end of the year's rice cultivation and prays for fertility in the coming year. The festival begins with a tug-of-war using a rope made from rice straw harvested in the community, followed by performing arts depicting various rice farming tasks such as dohyo purification, rice hulling, and rice pounding. In particular, the rope cutting featuring actors wearing smiling paper masks and a wild, monstrous "shishi" beast marks the opening of the festival and fascinates spectators. Additionally, the silent play "Higefusshu" and the short comedic sketch "Gyokuro Kana", which uniquely portrays defeating a shishi attacking a woman, are also performed, filling the venue with laughter at the performers' humorous acting. At the end of the festival, everyone forms a circle to dance the Hachigatsu Odori (August Dance), making it one of the representative folk performing arts of Setouchi Town where you can feel tradition and the warmth of the local people.

Venue

Yuidake Observatory

Yui, Setouchi, Oshima District, Kagoshima 894-1745