ARTIST
Oushinai Nanatsumai Preservation Society
The Oushinai Nanatsumai is a kind of kagura, allegedly conveyed to Nakazato and Kishi communities around the Tempo era (1831-1845). It was Shinkuro Takeda from Nakazato who taught this dance to the youth in his own yard in the development era of Oushinai. There is a record telling that the dance was dedicated to a local shrine in 1949. Despite several years of its inactivity after that, they persistently kept the practice until the dance troupe, gradually reorganized with the children from elementary to junior high school, joined the 9th Iwaizumi Town Folk Performing Arts Festival in 1975. In their repertory are Dogu-tori, Yokobane, Toriigakarichirashi, Goho-no-ya, and Dogu-osame. The dance depicts the way to cultivate and purify the earth, warding off the evil spirit, with the seven instruments, as a prayer for a rich harvest and safety of family.