Niino Snow Festival

About this event

Niino no Yuki Matsuri (Niino Snow Festival) is a festival that likens snow to rice ear flowers and prays for heavy snow (representing a year of abundant harvest). Held within the grounds of Izu Shrine, an all-night scroll of traditional Japanese performing arts unfolds, including dengaku, bugaku, kagura, sarugaku, and ta-asobi. Said to be the origin of classical performing arts such as Noh and Kyogen, the festival also provides profound insight to scholars studying ancient performance arts. The origins of the festival are steeped in legend; it is said that Takigi Noh was introduced during the Kamakura period, and that the Ta no Kami Okuri (sending off the deity of the rice fields) was introduced during the Muromachi period. Preserved for hundreds of years by a performing arts troupe blending Shinto and Buddhism, prayers for abundant crops are made with the belief that snowfall on the day brings a fruitful year. If there is no snow in Niino, it is believed the festival cannot be held unless even a handful of snow is offered before the altar, so villagers may go up to mountain passes to fetch some. The masks (men-gata) used in the festival are characterized by their rustic finish created solely with sumi ink, gofun shell powder, and benigara red iron oxide pigment; 19 varieties currently exist, preserving styles from the Kamakura period. When paired with artificial horses, lion heads, horse forms, and ox forms, the performers become incarnations of deities by donning these masks. This festival is designated as a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Venue

Izu Shrine

2608-4 Niino, Anan-cho, Shimoina-gun, Nagano 399-1612