Mukaimachi Sansa Odori (Iwaizumi Town)
In 1920, Gonjiro Mitaji from Iwaizumi learned how to dance and play the flute and taiko drum from a Morioka lumber dealer in the Hanawa District of Miyako, and brought them back home. In the following year, Gonjiro and Yaichi Ogasawara, who had come back from work away from home, taught the dance to young people in town, and this is said to be the beginning of the Mukaimachi Sansa Odori. Seizo Sasaki is said to be their first disciple. The dance was not performed for several years before and during the war, but after the war, Gonjiro started teaching the young people again. Because many of these young adults were from Mukaimachi, the dance came to be called “Mukaimachi Sansa”. There were no clear names for the different dances except for “To-ri,” and were expressed by the verbal rhythms. However in 1980, the dances were named, “To-ri, Hon-odori (No. 1 to No. 7), and Jinku-kuzushi”, when the dance was introduced at the Iwaizumi High School Cultural Festival, with a total of 9 dances that are being passed on today.