• Date

  2025.1.3

• Time

  Start 13:00 End 17:00　

• Locate

  Yamaguchi community center

• Fee

  free

In the coastal areas of the Sanriku region, there is a custom called “Mawari Kagura,” in which Kagura groups tour from Kuji (north bound) to Kamaishi (sounth bound) and perform Kagura while staying at peoples houses for over two months from New Year’s. In Miyako city, Muromori Kagura and Fudai Kagura carry out this tour. Kuromori Kagura (which is designated as a national important intangible forlk cultural property), the performers carry around a “Gongen-sama” which is a Shishito(a lion head) and the spirit of the Kuromori Shrine is transferred to, and tour around the village to perform Kagura for exorcisms and fire-fighting prayer in front of the house. At night, they entertain people by performing Kagura in the tatami rooms of the houses where they stay.
In 2025 the year of southbound tour, the first Kuromori Kagura performance for the Mawari Kagura tour will be held at Yamaguchi Community Center in Miyako City.

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Venue｜Yamaguchi Community Center (1-3-14 Yamaguchi, Miyako, Iwate 027-0063)

Access model from Tokyo

Day 1, 1/3 (Fri.)

Schedule	Remarks
(8:18) Depart from Tokyo Station – Morioka Station(10:28)	Tohoku Shinkansen Hayabusa No. 7 Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto line
(10:40) Morioka Station East Exit Bus Stop ⑦ – Miyako-ekimae (12:20)	Iwate Kenpoku Bus 106 Limited Express
(12:25) Miyako-ekimae – Kuromori Shrine (12:40)	Cab (15 minutes)
(13:00) Observe Mai-tachi-shinji (a ritual, transferring spirit to the Gongensam ) (13:30)	Precincts of Kuromori Shrine
(13:30) Kuromori Shrine – Yamaguchi Community Center (14:00)	30 minutes by foot
(15:00) Observing Maihajime (first Kagura performance of the year) (17:00)	Yamaguchi Community Center
To accommodations in Miyako City	cab

Day 2, 1/4 (Sat.)

Schedule	Remarks
(9:00)Sightseeing in Miyako City	Please check the required time to Miyako Station
(13:45)Bus stop in front of Miyako Station – Morioka Station (15:25)
(15:50) Morioka Station – Tokyo Station (16:14)	JR Bus Tohoku, Hayasaka Kogen Line
(16:50) Depart Morioka Station→Arrive at Tokyo Station (18:04)	Tohoku Shinkansen Hayabusa 32 bound for Tokyo

Timetable for Morioka⇔Miyako (106 express/express bus) is here↓
http://www.iwate-kenpokubus.co.jp/archives/16465/

Nearby Touring spots Information

Jodogahama

Jodogahama is located in the center of Sanriku Fukko (reconstruction) National Park and Sanriku Geopark. It is a Miyako’s representative scenic spot.
It’s beauty is praised as “just like the Pure Land of Paradise,” was formed over a long period of time by volcanic eruptions, crustal movement, and sea water erosion. There are many attractions such as oddly shaped rocks and caves, which can be toured by sightseeing boats or small boats. In summer, it is a popular swimming spot and has been selected as one of the 100 best bathing spots by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment.

Contact Information	Contact: Jodogahama Visitor Center 32-69, Hitachihama-cho, Miyako, Iwate 027-0001 Hours: 9:00-17:00 Closed: Year-end and New Year holidays TEL 0193-65-1690 FAX 0193-65-1691
URL	https://jodogahama-vc.jp/

Bin-Don

The common style of preserving freshly caught sea urchins along the coast of Iwate Prefecture is to pack them in milk jar.
The advantage of doing so is that it is hygienic and freshness can be well preserved. Bin-Don (seafood bowl in a milk jar) have got inspiration from this unique preservation method.It is fun to look at the layers of seafood in the jar, and you can make it easily by yourself. It is such a gem. You can enjoy it at restaurants in Miyako City.

Business hours and holidays

Varies at each restaurants (Regular closing days and business hours may differ during the year-end and New Year holidays. Please check before coming to the store)

A place where you can have Bin-Don

Gyosai-tei Sumiyoshi https://kankou385.jp/special_kiji/4524 Kyukamura Rikuchu Miyako https://kankou385.jp/special_kiji/4564 Jodogahama Rest House https://kankou385.jp/special_kiji/4545 Zensukeya Restaurant https://kankou385.jp/special_kiji/6854 Donburi no Mise Oikawa https://kankou385.jp/special_kiji/4552 Kappo Okame https://kankou385.jp/special_kiji/4538 Jyanome Honten https://kankou385.jp/special_kiji/4558 Seatopia Naado https://kankou385.jp/special_kiji/9013

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For other tourist information in Miyako City, please visit →https://kankou385.jp/

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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