Kagura - Folk Kagura

Folk Kagura

Satokagura, or "normal kagura", is a wide umbrella term containing a great diversity of folk dances derived from mikagura, and incorporated with other folk traditions. For the sake of brevity, a selection of traditions from the Kantō region will be used as examples.

• Miko kagura – dances performed by shrine maidens (miko) originally derived from ritual dances in which the miko channeled the kami, speaking, singing, and dancing as the god. Though these originally had a very loose form, akin to similar god-possession dances and rituals in other world cultures, they have developed, like many other Japanese arts, into highly regular set forms. Today, they are performed largely in worship to kami at Shinto shrines, or as part of a ritual martial arts demonstration at Buddhist temples. These dances are often performed with ritual props, such as bells, bamboo canes, sprigs of sakaki, or paper streamers.

• Izumo-ryū kagura – Dances based on those performed at Izumo Shrine serve a number of purposes, including ritual purification, celebration of auspicious days, and the reenactment of folktales. Originally quite popular in the Chūgoku region, near Izumo, these dances have spread across the country, and have developed over the centuries, becoming more secular folk entertainment and less formal religious ritual.

• Ise-ryū kagura – A form of dances derived from those performed alongside yudate (boiling water) rituals at the outer shrines of Ise Shrine. Largely associated with Hanamatsuri (April 8), the miko or other group leaders immerse certain objects in boiling water as part of a purification ritual. As with other forms of kagura, this has become secularized and popularized as it transformed into a folk practice.

• Shishi kagura – A form of lion dance, in which a group of dancers take on the role of the shishi lion and parade around the town. The lion mask and costume is seen as, in some ways, embodying the spirit of the lion, and this is a form of folk worship and ritual, as other forms of lion dances are in Japan and elsewhere.

• Daikagura – A form of dance deriving from rituals performed by traveling priests from Atsuta and Ise Shrines, who would travel to villages, crossroads, and other locations to help the locals by driving away evil spirits. Acrobatic feats and lion dances played a major role in these rituals.

Around the time of the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), performances derived from this emerged in Edo as a major form of entertainment. In connection with the celebrations surrounding the beginning of the shogunate, lion dances, acrobatics, juggling, and a great variety of other entertainments were performed on stages across the city, all nominally under the auspices of "daikagura". Over the course of the period, these came to be more closely associated with rakugo storytelling and other forms of popular entertainment, and still today, daikagura continues to be performed and to include many elements of street entertainment.