ARTIST
Shirahama kembai Preservation Society
Ofunato City, Iwate
The Shirahama Kenbai is said to be conveyed from Hikoroichi community, an immediate neighbor, in the early Meiji period (1868-1912). The big tsunami in Sanriku region in 1896 and 1933 damaged and deprived them of their equipment and historical documents, meanwhile the wartime obliged them a period of suspension. The preservation society was founded to revive the tradition in 1973, but it didn’t last longer than five or six years. The inactivity continued since then; no performance was held and there only remained the narratives about the kenbai by the elderly practitioners. The current preservation society was newly established with 20 active members in July 1991.