Gannenbo Dance

About this event

"Gannenbo Odori" is a traditional performing art handed down in Oyabe City, Toyama Prefecture, specifically in the Ayako area east of Hanyu Gokoku Hachiman Shrine and south of Isurugi Station. Monks wearing black-dyed happi coats, twisted headbands, rope sashes, arm covers, leggings, and straw sandals carry poles holding "dashi" floats decorated with gohei paper streamers atop double-tiered woven hats, surrounded by red and blue curtains and artificial flowers. The dashi are affixed with paper lanterns inscribed with "Gannenbozu", "Tenka Taihei" (peace on earth), and "Honen Mansaku" (bountiful harvest). Behind the dashi, monks wearing identical happi coats and several male dancers dressed in long juban undergarments, white headbands, arm covers, leggings, and aprons resembling sumo ceremonial aprons (kesho-mawashi) appear, dancing with comical gestures to the accompaniment of gongs, taiko drums, shakuhachi flutes, shamisen, and kokyu fiddles. This dance was designated an Intangible Cultural Property of Oyabe City in 1965 and designated by Toyama Prefecture as a Local Performing Arts Preservation Organization in 1984, making it well known as a representative dance of Toyama Prefecture. The origin of the dance dates back to the Nara period and is said to have begun with the propagation of Buddhism, reaching this region during the Tensho era. One theory holds that when a peace agreement was reached in the war between Oda Nobunaga and Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple (the Ishiyama War), followers who had suffered through the prolonged conflict danced wildly with joy, and participants from this municipal area brought the dance back upon returning home.

Venue

Ayako

Ayako, Oyabe, Toyama 932-0833