Okawachi Ikeda Shrine Annual Festival

About this event

This is one of the Shimotsuki Kagura rituals of Tenryu Village, designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. It is a festival held on January 5 during the New Year at Ikeda Shrine in Okawachi, a settlement situated at an altitude of approximately 800 meters in the southwestern part of Tenryu Village. The festival begins with the sound of the "Onobori" drums, firewood within the shrine grounds is lit, and ritual services are performed. Purifying the hot-water cauldron until the following morning, Yudate Kagura is performed on the Kaguraden stage around the cauldron, starting with "Sun no Mai" (Dance of Order), progressing to "Ogi no Mitsumai" (Three-Fan Dance), "Tsurugi no Mitsumai" (Three-Sword Dance), and culminating in the climax with "Shizume no Mai" (Pacification Dance) and "Ryuo no Yu" (Dragon King's Hot Water). This dance features strict and demanding movements, concluding as dancers hold yutafusa around the cauldron and scatter hot cauldron water in four directions. It is said that drinking this cauldron water brings "health all year round," and some people take it home in bottles.

Venue

Okawachi Ikeda Shrine

5143 Kamihara, Tenryu Village, Shimoina District, Nagano 399-1202