• Date

  2025.1.19

• Time

  Door open 12:00, Concert begin 12:30, End around 16:00　

• Locate

  Kuji city Cultural Hall (Amber Hall) Main Hall
  
  

• Fee

  free

The 29th Kuji City local Geinoh Festival and 40°N. latitude Nanyatoyara Federation local Geinoh Exchange Festival is held to improve the performance skills and embrace their activities of passing down their Geinoh of those who are in the three regions: Hachinohe, Kuji, and Ninohe, also in order to deepen understanding and exchange of Geinoh traditions in the three regions. The Kuji City local Geinoh Festival is held every other year, bringing the Geinoh groups who are active in the transmission of the traditions within Kuji City all together. This is an opportunity to see local Geinoh that has been handed down in each region at one time.
*The 40°Nanyatoyara Federation was established to promote regional development from a broad perspective through cooperation among multiple municipalities (consisting of 16 cities, towns, and villages), regardless of their administrative regions.

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Venue｜Kuji City Cultural Hall (Amber Hall) Main Hall

Access model from Tokyo (if you use public transportation, we recommend staying one night)

Day 1, 1/19 (Sun.)

Schedule	Remarks
(06:32) Departure from Tokyo Station – Arrival at Ninohe station(09:09)	Tohoku Shinkansen Hayabusa No.1, bound for Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto
(09:20) Ninohe Ekimae East Exit – Kuji Ekimae (10:30)	JR Bus Tohoku Ninohe- Kuji, bound for Kuji Ekimae
Sightseeing around Kuji Station
(12:00) around Kuji Station – Kuji City Cultural Hall (12:15)	10-15 minutes by cab
( 12:30-16:00 approx.) Kuji City local Geinoh Festival and Nanyatoyara Federation local Geinoh Exchange Festival Appreciation
Overnight in Kuji City Accommodations in Kuji City

Day 2, 1/20 (Mon.)

Schedule	Remarks
(9:00)Kuji City Tour	Please check required time to Kuji Station on the return trip.
(13:35)Kuji Station- Ninohe Ekimae(14:45)	JR Bus Tohoku Kuji- Ninohe, bound for Kuji Ekimae
(15:19) Ninohe station-Tokyo Station (18:04)	Tohoku Shinkansen Hayabusa 34, bound for Tokyo

Click here for a model course for a trip to enjoy the Kuji City local Geinoh festival (3 days/2 nights)

Nearby Tourist Information

Roadside Station Kuji, Yamase Dofukan

This is a tourist center where a product center and a tourist exchange center are located. At the Tsuchi-no-Yakata (marchendises hall), visitors can purchase local seasonal vegetables, seafood, and specialty products. At the Kaze-no-Yakata (Tourism Exchange Center), where the charms of the Kuji area are presented, the Dashi, which actually operated during the Kuji Autumn Festival, is on display, and its size and power will overwhelm you. Visitors can also enjoy a restaurant that uses a variety of Kuji ingredients and a retro museum that displays nostalgic Showa Era (1926-1989）items.
Nearby is the Retro Plaza, lined with food stall-style restaurants and general merchandise stores.

Location	2-5-6 Nakamachi, Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture
Contact Information	Tsuchi no Yakata (Marchendise center) Machi no Eki Kuji ・Opening hours: 9:00-19:00 (open until 18:00 from October to March) ・Phone 0194-52-2289 ・FAX 0194-61-1879 Kaze no Yakata (Tourism Exchange Center) （Kuji City Tourism and Products Association） ・Opening hours: 9:00-19:00 (until 18:00 from November to March) ・Phone 0194-66-9200 ・FAX 0194-66-9300 Restaurant Yamakairi ・Business hours: 11:00-17:00 *Last order 30 minutes before closing ・Phone 0194-66-9111 ・FAX 0194-61-1879
URL	http://dofukan.com/index.html

Kuji Kohaku Museum

Kuji area is the largest amber production area in Japan.
The Kuji Kohaku (Amber) Museum is the only museum in Japan specializing in amber, and visitors can learn about amber by “seeing, touching, and experiencing” amber from various aspects including the Sanriku Geopark, culture, and art. The museum offers various hands-on activities such as “amber mining” to dig out amber from the stratum of the Late Cretaceous Period and “amber accessory making,” as well as a restaurant and a store, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the world of amber.

Location	156-133, Kokujicho 19chiwari, Kuji, Iwate, Japan 028-0071
Business Hours	9:00-17:00 (last admission 16:30)
regular closing day	Every Tuesday from Dec. to Feb. Year-end and New Year’s holidays: Dec. 31-Jan. 1 and the last day of Feb.
Contact Information	TEL 0194-59-3831
URL	https://www.kuji.co.jp/

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For other tourist information on Kuji City, please visit →https://www.kuji-kankou.com/

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Areas

• Miyako City

出演団体

Artists

• Iwate Prefecture Iwaizumi High School’s Geinoh Club

  Since its establishment in 1990, the club has performed at nine national competitions, three times at the National Theatre of Japan, and once in Paris. Many of the members not only belong to the club, but they are also a group of volunteers who aspire to pass on the Nakano Nanazumai dance. Although it is difficult to balance their activities during the peak season, they feel the need in spreading the local folk dance to as many people as possible, and to pass it on to younger generations.
  It is said that the Nakano Nanazumai was created around the time of the “Seven Years of Famine” in the Tempo era based on the “Shittogi-jishi-mai” of the Kuromori Kagura from Miyako City. With the dancers divided into seven roles, and seven different dances comprise the whole, it is said that this is where Nanazumai (literally, seven dances) got its name. The dancers play the role of farmers who cultivate the fields, plant crops, protect them from vermin, and share the harvest, all in the hope of a bountiful gathering.

• Mukaimachi Sansa-Odori

  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.

• Sukuizawa Nenbutsukenbai

  Sukuizawa Nembutsu Kenbai (Iwaizumi Town)
  In the Sengoku period (late 15th century to late 16th century), a nobleman from Kyoto escaped to Iwaizumi and died within a few years. It is said that Sukuizawa Nembutsu Kenbai started mainly in the villages around Mount Kuromori, by dancing the kenbai sword dance and kagura to appease the spirits of the deceased. These dances are now performed every year during obon festival as a memorial service, and consists of eight different dances. In addition, each dance has three different ways of dancing, so there are more than 20 different ways of dancing in total.

• Nakano Nanazumai Preservation Society

  Nakano Nanazumai is a folk performance art handed down in the Omoto Nakano district of Iwaizumi Town. It is said to have origins dating back to the 1840’s , when Kitaro Kudo, who was called Kagura Tayu ”Master of Kagura Sacred Dance” at the time, created it by using the beginning portion of a kagura dance as its basic inspiration. The performers include 7 pairs of dancers doing 7 different dance segments that are named Dogu-tori, Yoko-hane, Chirashi, Tatakai, Tsuttōtsu, Sansoku “Torii-gakari”, and Dogu-osame. At the time, these were performed as kagura sacred dances, but as times changed, they became integrated into the village festival. Nakano Nanazumai is a gallant and lively dance entreating an abundant harvest, big catches in the sea and the general safety of the village. The strong and graceful dance imagines the hard work of preparing new fields, then raising precious crops, and finally thankfully celebrating that year’s harvest all together with fellow villagers.

• Ushifushi Nenbutsu Kenbai

  In 1190, Chinzei Hachiro Tametomo’s third son, Minamoto no Tameyori, was granted his territory in Hei and Kesen by Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. He built a castle in Nejo, Roki, and took on the name of Hei Yorimoto.
  Yorimoto built Kegon-in temple in dedication to the soul of his father, where he had 27 soldiers dance for the souls of ancestors and of the Minamoto clan and also of its rival Taira clan killed in the war. This is believed to be the origin of the Ushifushi Kembai.
  During the annual Bon Festival in August, the dancers go around houses in the area to appease the souls of ancestors and the recently departed. On the 16th, it ritually performs its kembai and nanatsu-odori (seven-item dance) at the Kegon-in temple in Kebaraichi to pray for the dead.

Contact