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Ise Renewal (Shikinen Sengu)

September 25, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Ise's log-style architecture, exemplified in one of its smaller buildings that has been recently rebuilt

Thanks to reader, Peter Grilli, Green Shinto can confirm the dates of the “Sengyosai” or ritual transfer of sacred objects from the old shrine buildings at Ise. It is the climax of the rituals of renewal known as Shikinen Sengu, marking the culmination of a 20-year cycle.

At Naiku, the ceremony will take place on October 2, between 6:00 and 9:00pm in the evening.
At Geku, a similar ceremony will take place on the evening of October 5.

These ceremonies are not open, however, to the public except by special invitation. (For anyone planning on visiting Ise, it is worth noting that Naiku will be closed to outside visitors from 1:00pm on Oct. 2. Presumably the same will apply to Geku on Oct 5.)

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For a short explanation of the Shikinen Sengu renewal rites, click here. The Kokugakuin Encyclopedia of Shinto carries the following information by Nakanishi Masayuki (abridged from the original):

The transfer of the deity to a newly constructed shrine (sengū) in prescribed years (shikinen).

Kazenomiya; one of the many buildings that is rebuilt on the adjoining space

This major traditional project involves building anew the Main Sanctuary and other buildings of Ise Jingū, renewing all vestments and sacred treasures stored in the buildings, and transferring the deity to the new shrine.

Sengū reibun provides the following definition: “The renewal and transfer of the two Grand Shrines of Ise every twenty years form the imperial family’s weightiest undertaking and a project of unparalleled scale among all the Jingū”. The sengū system was initiated at the wish of Emperor Tenmu, against the backdrop of what was the largest civil disorder of Japan’s ancient state, the Jinshin Uprising (672). During the reign of his successor Emperor Jitō, the sengū ceremony was first performed for the Inner Shrine in 690 and for the Outer Shrine in 692. Including its 61st celebration in 1993, the Shikinen sengū has been conducted for 1,300 years.

Ise Jingū’s architecture employs a unique style characterized by its linear storehouse shape, a thatched gabled roof on pillars sunk directly into the ground and an entrance on a non-gabled side. The building materials are simple, limited to cypress, miscanthus reeds and gold and copper hardware; with the ritual installation of a “sacred central post” (shin no mihashira or imibashira) beneath the Main Sanctuary’s floor. The very simplicity that is the feature of this architectural style inevitably leads to decay and dilapidation, providing a rationale for periodic renewal.

Entrance way to Ise leads through some wonderful ancient trees

Completed in eight years, the renewal process requires 14,000 pieces of timber, 25,000 sheaves of miscanthus reeds, and 122,000 shrine carpenters; this massive project reconstructs over sixty structures, including the Main Sanctuaries of the Inner and Outer Shrines, treasure houses, offering halls), sacred fences, torii gateways, the buildings of fourteen “auxiliary sanctuaries”. All offerings of vestments and sacred treasures presented by the imperial family are also replaced.

The first example of the replacement of imperial offerings dates back to 849 but the shrine’s current list totals 714 categories consisting of 1,576 articles (189 categories comprising 491 sacred treasures and 125 categories comprising 1,085 vestments). This diverse range of objects can be divided as follows. Vestments include room fittings, “kami seats” and rugs, furnishings, and ritual artifacts for the “transfer of the deity” (Sengyo) ceremony.

Sacred treasures include spinning and weaving tools, military weapons and wear, horse equipment, musical instruments, writing implements and daily goods. Reproduced every twenty years, these articles all embody skilled artistry and abundant experience and thus preserve Japanese tradition in terms of style, technique, and materials. They are thus also collectively described as “a modern equivalent of the treasures housed in Shōsōin [Todaiji treasure house in Nara].”

As the construction work progresses, various rites and ceremonies are performed at each stage of the process, including the felling and transport of timber, preparation of the construction site, and the building of shrine structures. These ceremonies can be grouped by content: the woodcutters’ ceremonies concern the felling and transport of timber; the shrine carpenters’ building rituals concern site preparation and shrine construction; and the shrine officials’ secret rituals that culminate in the Sengyo ritual.

After eight years of preparation starting with the Yamaguchi and Konomotosai ceremonies, the Sengyo ritual is held in October during the autumn of the prescribed year, forming the core of the Sengū celebrations. While the deity is being transferred in the dark, the imperial envoy proclaims “shutsugyo” three times to announce the august departure of the deity to the new shrine. At the same time, at the imperial palace, the emperor faces the direction of Ise and performs a “ritual of distant worship”.

Posing for photos on the steps leading up to Ise's Naiku

Purification: Ise's sacred river serves as a natural temizuya

Takachiho

September 22, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

An article in the Japan News today tells of the attractions of Kyushu’s Takachiho, which is associated with the Rock Cave myth in the Kojiki (712). There’s a curious coincidence (or perhaps it’s not coincidence) in that Takachiho is also the mountain in southern Kyushu onto which Amaterasu’s grandson Ninigi no mikoto descended in the Heavenly Descent (tenson korin).

I’ve visited the town of Takachiho myself, and it’s certainly well worth the effort of going there There are a number of attractions described in the full article, though the associations with the Kojiki myth described below are the most fascinating. In the evenings there are dramatic kagura reenactments of some of the episodes in the myths. The story of Izanami and Izanagi, I recall, was particularly lively and raunchy. One felt Chaucer would have approved.

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Mythical world: Takachiho boasts stunning scenery
The Japan News September 22, 2013 (by Takashi Oki, staff reporter)

Visitors row boats through the Takachiho Gorge. The Manai Waterfall is the top tourist spot. Sunlight shines though the dim gorge in the daytime.

Takachiho is steeped in mythology. Situated in a basin surrounded by mountains, the village has a mythical atmosphere and is believed to be the site of a number of legends set down in Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) and Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan).

“Thanks to a ‘spiritual site visits’ boom, many groups of women have visited the town recently,” said Hisao Kudo of Takachiho’s Planning and Tourism Division.

Kudo and his colleagues gave me a tour.

First, we went to the Takachiho Gorge by boat along the Gokasegawa river. Soon the Manai Waterfall appeared before me. The spray from the 17-meter waterfall was cool and refreshing. Rock faces flanked both sides of the river and the area was quite dark despite it being a sunny summer day.

“The scenery appears to come out of a mythical world, doesn’t it?” a man in a nearby boat exclaimed.

Several sites in Takachiho are associated with ancient lore, including the Ama no Iwato (heavenly rock cave), where sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami is said to have hidden; and the Takamagahara prayer site, where gods are believed to have bowed and worshipped the heavens (Takamagahara) after descending from that sphere. Takamagahara translates literally as high plain of heaven.

Ame no Uzume whose dance won the attention of the gods, drawing out a curious Amaterasu from her cave

Among the sites with mythological associations, I was particularly interested in Ama no Yasukawara, a large cave where thousands of gods are said to have gathered to discuss how to coax Amaterasu out of the Ama no Iwato.

I saw a big cave along the Iwatogawa river, with stones piled up along the riverbank in front of it. Legend has it that wishes are granted to people who pile stones up in front of the cave. I was deeply moved by the strength of people’s devotion.

I went back there on the morning of my departure. Summer sunlight trickled through the trees which almost lurched over the river below. The faint rays gave a glow to the shadows. The scenery was so sublime that I couldn’t help but make a wish of my own.

Travel tips

From Haneda Airport, it takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes to fly to Aso Kumamoto Airport. From there it takes about 2 hours to the Takachiho Bus Station by express bus. From Miyazaki Airport, it takes 70 minutes to Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, by express train. From there it takes about 1 hour to the Takachiho Bus Station by express bus. For more information, call the Takachiho Town Planning and Tourism Division at (0982) 73-1212.

Kagura version of Tajikarao, the strongman who pulls open Amaterasu's rock door

Ama no Yasukawara: meeting place of the gods to consult about how to draw out Amaterasu from her cave

Autumn moon festival (Kamigamo)

September 22, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Priests lead a procession of those involved in the ritual of thanks to the kami for the blessings of the autumn full moon

Today it was the turn of Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto to celebrate the autumn moon, though it’s already visibly waning. It’s a new festival, only started recently, and doesn’t have anything like the full programme and traditional atmosphere of its sister shrine, Shimogamo. Consequently, despite the superb weather, crowds were small and the feeling more like a small village fete. Still it’s always nice to celebrate an equinox.

Miko waving sakaki branch over participants while shaking suzu bells

The event started in the afternoon and there were a few items of interest, with a local taiko band, various stalls, and a public rite of thanksgiving for the beauty of the full moon. This took place in the late afternoon while it was still light, and was performed on a stage sideways on to the audience watching.

It’s not often one gets such a clear view of a Shinto ritual, complete with kami-oroshi (descent of the kami) and kami-okuri (sending off of the kami). A running commentary by a priest with a microphone not only explained the names of each part of the ritual, and who was doing what, but made sure the small audience all stood and bowed at the correct time.

A Kansai University professor, friend of one of the priests, came up with the idea of covering a white paper orb with calligraphy of wishes. (See photo below.) His idea was then to generate electricity from a cycle to light it up in the evening as a moonful of hopes for a better world.

I took the opportunity of the great weather to stroll up the hill to the side of the shrine, where there are views over Kyoto towards the eastern hills. There were several small shrines, with a decidedly syncretic feel, which surprised me.

In amongst the shrines to Inari, Ryujin and Konpira, I noticed a dedication to the Buddhist deity Fudo-myo. It seemed quite apt somehow, for moon-viewing is common to both temples and shrines. Indeed, the custom is said to have been introduced from China about 1200 years ago and practiced by Emperor Saga at Daikoku-ji, where one of Kyoto’s most elegant moon-viewing parties is held in the form of boats full of Heian-era musicians floating over the silvery reflections.

A priest holding the 'purification wand' – a branch of sakaki with some hemp string attached

Reading of the Norito praayer before the temporary altar (himorogi)

A miko performs an ancient kagura dance

A priest photographs the kagura performance with live gagaku music

The 'full moon' of people's hopes and wishes

Island pilgrimage

September 21, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

View from Shiraishi Island over the Inland Sea (Okayama Prefecture)

Nice article today in the Japan Times by friend Amy Chavez, who writes of the mini 88-pilgrimage on her Inland Sea island of Shiraishi. I’m a huge fan of the island and have spent happy times there. I’ve also done several parts of the trail, which for a small island is surprisingly lengthy. (For my take on Shraishi, see here.)

Though the trail belongs to the Shingon sect of Buddhism, it’s syncretic in nature and many of the shrines have Shinto-style shide (paper strips), sakaki or other Shinto trappings. The founder of Shingon, Kukai, recognised the existence of kami, and the founding myth of his headquarters at Koya involves the mountain’s kami (as described here).

Amy’s article highlights the problem of rural areas in keeping up traditional ways. Some of these are immemorial and recall a way of life dating back some 2000 years which was based on the agricultural cycle of wet-rice cultivation. For many ancient practices, it may sadly be the end of the line as depopulation and an aging society take their toll.

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The ancient pilgrimage routes and the local community
BY AMY CHAVEZ SEP 20, 2013 Japan Times

As I headed out the door to do some trail running in the national park behind my house, I was surprised to make it only a few hundred meters before I was stopped dead in my tracks. The dead part was a tree that had fallen over the trail over a month ago and had yet to be removed. No problem. I went back home, got a hand saw, cut up the tree and cleared the trail. Now run!

The Fudo-myoo rock on Shiraishi island

A few hundred meters on, I was stopped again. Another tree down! I went home again, got the saw, cut up the tree and cleared the trail. Each tree removal took about 30 minutes. Now run!

But the rest of the trail was in no better condition. More trees and branches were strewn over the path, some of the debris more recent than the others. Some branches had even already been hacked in two by passersby to make the trail more passable. Yet other sections of the trail were completely overgrown with weeds.

But this is no ordinary nature trail. It’s the 7 km Shiriaihi Buddhist Pilgrimage route, which takes you around the island through forests, past 88 designated sacred sites on the island. Each site has a small stone statue of Kobo Daishi accompanied by another stone deity. Each shrine has its own history and meaning, based on the famous 88-temple Shikoku Pilgrimage.

So why is the trail — in a national park no less — in such poor condition? What happened? What we’re witnessing is the slow, painful death of an island community.

Ever since I moved here in 1997, I’ve taken part in the pilgrimage cleanups that happen twice a year: once in the spring and once in the fall. Each of the eight neighborhoods on the island is in charge of a swath of the pilgrimage route. Our neighborhood, in charge of sites 10 to 17, has a dozen or so people who participate in this “obligatory volunteer” activity. In other words, you’re expected to take part unless you are either bed-ridden or dead.

An unusually brightly coloured shrine on the pilgrimage

Indeed, I’ve always been fascinated at how agile and strong my elderly neighbors are. Rikimatsu-san, for example, an 80-year-old retired fisherman, climbs up and down the steep trails with no problem at all — while operating a gasoline-powered weed eater! The not-so-nimble (and there are only a few) attack the trails with rakes, hand saws and that all-round marvel tool, the Japanese scythe.

Basically, anything in the way gets cleared by the mad elderly brigade! Then there is my husband and I, as well as a few other young couples in our neighborhood, who also do our part. Not only that, but the younger couples have children who are almost in their teens — certainly old enough to pitch in. At the end of a typical three-hour cleanup, drinks and snacks were served and we’d all sit around and have a bit of a social hour.

So when spring came around again this year, I was looking forward to our spring cleanup. “Ladies and gentleman, sharpen your scythes!”

But when I talked to my neighbor Kazu-chan, she said, “Oh, we’re not doing it anymore. Everyone is too old.” Um, we are? Have I hyper-aged to the point that at 50, I can no longer decapitate weeds with a scythe? Had this age epidemic affected the other young couples in the neighborhood, too?

But it gets worse. Not just our neighborhood, but all the neighborhoods have pulled out of the cleanup. In one of those typically Japanese “all or none” decisions, rather than just take the pressure off the elderly to participate, they canceled the entire activity! And now, just a few months later, a 400-year-old pilgrimage path is impassable.

Another of the 88 shrines on the pilgrimage trail, neatly tucked between rocks

While I understand that some of our island’s ancient Buddhist and Shinto ceremonies will die because there are no young people to carry them on, I never imagined we’d give up on a path through the mountains that merely needs a few hours of cleaning once in the spring and once in the fall. I apologized to Mother Nature for this wholesale abandonment of her gifts.

Many tourists have commented that the Shiraishi Pilgrimage impresses on a level that the Shikoku Pilgrimage cannot because this pilgrimage is devoid of people, buildings and commercialism.

This is pilgrimaging in its pure form, the same as it was 400 years ago. There are no groomed or fabricated trails, no fake steps built into the path, no handrails to make it easier. It is a pilgrimage through time and nature, dotted with carpets of moss, tables of rock and lined with Buddhist statuary. There are no signs showing the way, just a map showing the route. With your map, you can borrow a compass to help you navigate, but no GPS. On the Shiraishi Pilgrimage, it’s just you, nature and the gods.

The 88 sacred sites with their gods that we so faithfully looked after for hundreds of years — and who, in turn, looked after us — we are now leaving behind. The deities will no longer receive fresh sakaki branches, flowers or offerings by pilgrims. Among the detritus of the forest will be abandoned Jizos with their knit hats and bibs on.

Hidden behind tall weeds and yoshinoki bamboo grass will be Kannon, Goddess of Mercy, who put off her own enlightenment to bring salvation to us all! Soon they will be the last inhabitants of an abandoned forest, unfindable to even those who dare to search.

I’ve been told that the government can’t give money to save these old Buddhist pilgrimages because people complain when public money is given to support religious activities.

But let’s not confuse religion with spirituality. Nor history. Nature has always been at the heart of Japan’s spirit. Have we given up on becoming one with nature? If nature is man and man is nature, then abandoning nature is the dumbing down of the human spirit.

Is it not our responsibility to preserve these historical paths, these ancient routes worthy of inspiring wandering poets like Matsuo Basho? What will happen if we can no longer wonder nor wander? I don’t know about you, but I want the dirt road, the road less travelled.

When I ran on these trails before, I thanked the gods for this beautiful pilgrimage route. Now I apologize, and ask their forgiveness.

No. 69 on the trail. Each of the 88 shrines has its own distinctive character.

A beach shrine, prompting one to wonder how the traillblazers decided on the apparently haphazard locations. Was it topography, or simply inspiration?

Harvest moon celebration

September 19, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Full moon rising over Shimogamo Shrine

Tonight was full moon in Kyoto – the fullest of the year, in fact. The September moon has long been an object of special attention in Japan, and the moon-viewing parties of the past were a time for poetry and reflection. Drinking saké with friends and admiring the beauty of the plump, bright orb was a rite of the changing season as summer evenings slipped into early autumn.

A harvest Moon!
And on the mats-
Shadows of pine boughs.
–Takarai Kikaku (1661-1707)

Kagura dance - A Chinese king with a mask ready for battle

The tradition is kept up in many places, one of them being Shimogamo Jinja here in Kyoto. It’s a delightful affair, lasting from 5.30-9.00 with a full programme of events taking place within the shrine compound. On one side is an ongoing tea ceremony; on the other a stage for recitals of music and dance. Beyond the stage, and from behind the trees of the Tadasu woods, slowly spreads the silvery glow of the rising moon.

On the programme this evening was shakuhachi, flute, koto, kagura dance, then shakuhachi and koto again, ending with a classic dance that told of a Chinese king who had beautiful features but when he fought in battle he wore a mask in order to look more frightening to his enemies.

Koto players on stage at Shimogamo Shrine

On the various stalls were green tea, sweets, souvenir rice crackers and Mitarashi dango (dumplings). [Mitarashi is the name given to streams that run through shrine precincts and are used for purification.] At the end people carried away plants and pampas grass too that had been used at the shrine to place in their homes for protection.

It was an altogether wonderful occasion that gave one pause for thought about the wonder of the universe and the passing of the season. It’s part of what makes Shinto so special at times. In the harbouring of tradition and the enjoyment of nature can be felt both the ancestral and animist sides of the religion at their best.

Set of full moon ritual offerings, including 'tsukimi dango' (moon-viewing sweet dumplings)

Elegance in action: tea ceremony at Shmogamo Jinja

Stirring the tea so that miko can present it to participants

Full moon over Kyoto's eastern hills (taken from my veranda)

Fuji problems

September 18, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

Fuji at night... like a downtown city. (Photo AP/ David Guttenfelder)

Mt Fuji is the country’s most famous goshintai (spirit body). Yet as a sacred mountain, its popularity is troublesome in terms of pressure on the environment. Its recent elevation to World Heritage status looks likely to exacerbate the situation, as the following article makes clear.

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Mount Fuji’s World Heritage status worries some
By ELAINE KURTENBACH Japan Today SEP. 15, 2013
They trudge up well-trod cinder paths by the thousands, headlamps glowing in the dark, and then settle in, shivering, to await and cheer the sun’s blazing ascent over the horizon.

Climbing Mount Fuji, Japan’s most iconic landmark, is a group activity: Seldom is it climbed in solitude. The recent recognition of the 3,776-meter (12,388-foot) peak as a UNESCO World Heritage site has many here worried that will draw still more people, adding to the wear and tear on the environment from the more than 300,000 who already climb the mountain each year.

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Fuji dawn (photo AP/David Guttenfelder)

Safety is another concern. At least seven people died and 70 were hurt climbing Fuji In 2012, and traffic jams of climbers in the pre-dawn darkness can add to the risks, says Shomei Yokouchi, governor of Yamanashi, the area to the west. The official climbing season runs July to August, and the trek — nine hours round trip in good weather — is especially treacherous other times of the year.

Mount Fuji’s near perfect cone was created by an eruption thousands of years ago that buried earlier peaks, and pilgrims have been climbing to it for centuries — though women have been allowed only since 1868. It towers over the Pacific coast, ringed by lakes, national parks, temples and shrines that are also part of the World Heritage site.

The new status, granted in June, will likely help area businesses — a welcome boost given the economic decline in most of rural Japan. Local authorities are puzzling, however, over how to preserve its natural beauty while improving traffic access and other facilities to accommodate the anticipated increase in visitors.

Some have suggested limiting access by raising tenfold the 1,000 yen ($10) climbing fee. But that might lead climbers to risk hypothermia by roughing it outdoors instead of staying in the 16 huts along the top of the trail, which charge up to $100 a night for cheek-by-jowl communal accommodations.

(Photo AP/ David Guttenfelder)

“With more foreigners visiting, we will need to think of improving the facilities,” Gov. Yokouchi says, noting that the installation of composting toilets has helped. “They are cleaner than before and the smell’s not so bad, but there are not enough of them.”

Then there’s the litter.

Each year 40,000 to 50,000 volunteers clean up garbage on the peak. Groups collected nearly 900 tons to prepare for June’s World Heritage vote by UNESCO, the U.N.‘s cultural organization.

The designation is something to be proud of, says Hisataka Kurosawa, a 16-year-old high school student who recently joined a group of volunteers who climbed part of a trail and then scrounged around a car park near a visitor center, collecting several big bags worth of oil cans, cigarette butts, car parts and candy wrappers.

“It’s getting polluted and so many people are running around. I’m a bit disappointed about that,” he says.

The volunteers were led by Toyohiro Watanabe, a former local government official who runs a civic group called Groundwork Mishima.

It’s not just the crowds that worry him. He also frets over acid rain from sea water mixed with emissions from factories on the coast. Over invasive plant species, such as the bamboo grass that grows thick along the roadsides, obscuring some of the litter tossed from passing vehicles.

Global warming may be contributing to huge fissures on Fuji’s slopes prone to erosion and landslides, he says. “Although Fuji has a power of its own, it is being influenced by global warming and other factors,” Watanabe says as he looks for trouble spots in some of the most frequented areas. “It is getting weaker.”

Though it last erupted in 1707, Mount Fuji remains an active volcano; Japanese seismologists watch it closely. The bigger risk, though, is from accidents.

Fuji is hardly steep, but its high elevation and fickle weather can make it a hazardous climb. “There are rock falls, and sometimes people are unable to get out of the way,” Yokouchi, the Yamanashi governor, says.

UNESCO has long acknowledged the risks to World Heritage sites, both from natural disasters and unsustainable levels of tourism. Even for a country as wealthy as Japan, tight budgets mean fewer resources available to support conservation.

Sunrise on Fuji is a big event – if you can see it for the crowds

Deer dance

September 17, 2013 / John D. / 0 Comments

The Deer Dance with beating drums. 　The Deer Dance is an Iwate prefectural cultural asset. (Photo by Nathan Hill)

Japan Today carries a report on an interesting Deer Dance in Tohoku which took place at the weekend. I’ve never seen this myself, but it’s suggestive of the kind of deer shamanism practised in the northern hemisphere (Siberia and Finland for example). I can’t help wondering if this is a relic of the northern immigrant route from Siberia into north Japan.

Oddly the dance is known in Japanese as Shishi Odori, since Shishi dances are usually the Chinese-style lion dances, but a poster to Japan Today provides a simple explanation for the nomenclature: “historically ‘shishi’ meant any kind of animal that yielded edible meat. In Tokyo there’s a district called 鹿骨 Shishibone, with ‘shika’ (deer) pronounced ‘shishi’.” Nonetheless in this youtube video, the dancers have antlers with a lion mask and mane, as if some weird hybrid. Perhaps a member of the deer clan married with a member of the lion clan?!

According to a website on religion in Japan’s Yayoi Era (300 BC – 250 AD), people worshipped a deer deity since its antlers were shed and grew again on a yearly cycle. It thus came to represent regeneration, growth and fertility. Farmers sowed seeds in deer blood to speed up the germination process. Perhaps then these dances are a legacy from the ancient belief.

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Taken from the Hanamaki City website:

The dynamic Deer Dance is widely recognized as the representative local performing art of Iwate. Enjoy the beat of drums and the dramatic action of the white bamboo horns, sasara.

The Deer Dance, performed to pray for peace and drive away evil spirits, is registered as a prefectural cultural asset. Each performer dances while singing and beating a drum. You can see about 30 teams dance during the Hanamaki Festival.

The following is a poem by Kenji Miyazawa, entitled “Plateau”:

It could be the ocean, I thought,
but it was shining, green hills.
Ah,
My hair blowing in the wind
looks like the deer dance !

[A poster called Seiharinokaze comments: ‘Miyazawa Kenji wrote about the true spirit of Shishiodori in one of his fairy tales. It’s about an immense feeling of love which was not divided yet. Men of old forgot the distinction between themselves humans and deers and even tried to dance with them. That spirit is a legacy of Tohoku people.’]

Kasuga School
Many deer dance teams belong to the Kasuga school, which is a branch of Kasuga Ochiai Deer Dance. They have a quiet and calm dancing style.

Kanazu School
The Kanazu school, based in Oshu City (old Esashi City), has a dynamic dancing style compared to the Kasuga school. Hanamaki has its own Kanatsu team.

Where to see the Deer Dance

• Hanamaki Festival (held on the second Friday, Saturday and Sunday of September)
• Hanamaki Hot Spring (fee charged; reservation required)