EVENT

Sanriku Otsuchi Future Geinoh Festival, Otsuchi Meeting for Geinoh Beginnings and Beyond 2024.10.5-6

  • 2024
  • Experience
  • Interact
  • Appreciation

5th ■ Otsuchi Meeting for Geinoh Beginnings and Beyond ■

Open Public Participation Conference

A town where Geinoh creates and comes to life. Otsuchi.

At the Usuzawa Shishiodori Preservation Society Hall, which was opened as a shelter for Otsuchi residents at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Usuzawa Shishiodori Preservation Society of Otsuchi Town will give a lecture on the earthquake disaster and hold a hands-on exchange of experiences with Shishiodori and food culture. This hands-on meeting is to discuss and learn about the revitalization of the town and the creation of the region’s future through “local performing arts, Geinoh” with the performers of Future Geinoh Festival, local performers, and students. Of course, this meeting is open to public and we welcome anyone to attend. (Preior reservations required, first 15 applicants)
Date&Time| October 5, 2024 (Sat) 1:30pm-5:00pm (doors open 1:15 pm)
Location|Usuzawa Shishiodori (Usuzawa Deer Dance) Preservation Society Hall
20-80, Kozuchi, Otsuchi-cho, Kamihei-gun, Iwate
* Access information will be provided separately to participants.

<Registration>

Fee|Free admission *Internet reservations in advance (first 15 applicants)
Registration period|August 20, 2024 (Tue.) 2:00pm – October 3, 2024 (Thu.) 11:59pm

6th ■ Sanriku Otsuchi Future Geinoh Festival ■

Local Performing Arts Performance
Sanriku-Otsuchi is a treasure trove of local Geinoh. During the festival season, the town of Otsuchi and the coast of Kirikiri are filled with
deer dances, Shishi-Odori (lion dances), Toramai (tiger dances), seven gods of good fortune, Kagura.
Like the salmon that swims up the river of Otsuchi.
That girl at the desk next to me and my colleagues at work are all Geinoh practitioners.
From morning till night, a troupe of performers, accompanied by the sounds of drums, flutes, and gongs, dance and dance to wish for a bountiful harvest, a good catch, and prosperous business.
Even in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Geinoh performers worked together to restore
Otsuchi and pave the way for the future.
This year’s Sanriku Future Geinoh Festival is in Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture.
Performers who will be pioneers of the future Tohoku and Sanriku regions will come.
As a form of transmission of performing arts in the future,
we can see the “Rengo(=union)” method, in which people and people’s techniques are brought together from other groups and other kinds of Geinoh.
This time, we will invite various kinds of Geinoh groups which they are formed by “Rengo”, from inside and outside of the town to join this.
Visit to Otsuchi, a town where Geinoh creats and come to life.
Experience the breath of new performing arts by the next generation of performers.
Date & Time|October 6, 2024 (Sun) 1:00pm-4:00pm (Doors open at 12:30pm)
Venue|Oshachi Park
1-3 Suehiro-cho, Otsuchi-cho, Kamihei-gun, Iwate * In case of rain, the event will be held at OtsuchiTown Cultural Exchange Center Oshachi. The event will be announced on the day via the Sanriku International Art Festival’s official SNS, or etc.
Fee|Free admission

■Performers (in no particular order)■

Otsuchi Shishi-Odori (Otsuchi Deer Dance) Otsuchi Shishi-Odori (Otsuchi Deer Dance) *Five collective organizations (Kirikiri, Kaminami, Usuzawa, Tokunami, Kanazawa)

Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture

Otsuchi-Toramai (Otsuchi Toramai) Otsuchi-cho Toramai Council *Four collective organizations (Yasutobi, Mukogawara, Rikuchu Benten, Otsuchi Shiroyama)

Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture

“Kacchi-Shishi-odori” (Kacchi Deer Dance) Kacchi-Shishi-odori Hozonkai

Tanohata Village, Iwate Prefecture

“Nakano Nanazumai”, Iwate Prefectural Iwaizumi High School’s local performing arts club

Iwaizumi Town, Iwate Prefecture

Maeda Deer Dance” (Maeda Deer Dance) Maeda Local Performing Arts Preservation Club + Maeda Children’s Deer Dance

Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture

“Kagura” Furusato Geinoh group Iroha *A union of various Geinoh

Iwate prefecture

Access

▼Access to Otsuchi

  • Railroad
  • express bus
  • Car

▼From Tokyo and Aomori

Areas

Artists

  • Otsuchi Toramai Kyogikai

    The troupe was formed as toramai section in the association of the preservation societies of the folk performing arts in Otsuchi town in 1990. Comprised of four toramai groups in the town; Ando, Mukaigawara, Rikuchubenten and Otsuchi-Shiroyama, the troupe aims at cultivation of friendship between the groups, mutual empowerment and social contribution.
    The great earthquake of March 2011 damaged all the four groups. Overcoming the loss of the fellow members, the costumes and other equipment, they reunited for the revival and transmission. They have been actively performing the dance nationwide since then, to show their gratitude for help and support they received. In their repertory are Yaguruma, Hanetora, Sasabami, Jinkuodori, and Teodori among others.

  • Katchi Shishiodori Preservation Society

    The Katchi Shishiodori is a maku-odori (“curtain-dance”) type of shishiodori. This gallant and splendid traditional dance, which is characterized by its dynamic motions, is a heritage of the Katchi district of Tanohata. Out of its wide repertoire, the kembai is also taught at the local elementary school. In 1981, it was designated by the village of Tanohata as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

  • Maeda Kodomo Shishiodori

    The Maeda Shishiodori is said to have originated approximately 330 years ago, passed down from Iriya in Minamisanriku-cho, Miyagi Prefecture. At the time, the Kesen region was prosperous from gold mining, and the gold miners introduced the Shishiodori.
    The dance style is known as “Gyozan-ryu,” and one of the representative performances is called “Sannin Gurui.” This dance depicts a story where three male deer compete for a female deer, and in the end, one male deer emerges as the victor.

  • Maeda Kyodogeino Hozonbu Group

    It is said to have been during the Jokyo era (1684–1688) that the Maeda Shishiodori was taught by Zenkuro, who was a disciple of the supposed originator of the shishiodori, Shirobei of the Motoyoshi district. If this is true, then the dance is the earliest introduction of shishiodori in the city. There survives a scroll that identifies the dance with the Gyozan School, calling it “Gyozan School, Motoyoshi Style.” The scroll records tales related to the style of the dance, and details about how it was introduced and handed down in the region. Though popular in the first half of the Meiji period (1868–1912), it later declined, and from late Meiji period to Taisho period (1912–1926), it was only taught in the Sano area in Akasaki village, and the Kunabatake area in Ikawa village, eventually dying out. It continued to be inactive until the revival of the present-day Maeda Shishiodori in 1977.

  • 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.

2024 Japan Expo 2.0 Project (Commissioned) Sanriku International Art Festival 2024 Visit

Organizer| Sanriku International Art Promotion Committee, Japan Arts Council, Agency for Cultural Affairs Co-sponsor|Hachinohe City, Hachinohe Town, Hashikami Town, Hirono Town, Kuji City, Noda Village, Fudai Village, Tanohata Village, Iwaizumi Town, Miyako City, Yamada Town, Otsuchi Town, Kamaishi City, Ofunato City, Rikuzen Takada City, Sumida Town, Sanriku Railway Company, All Japan Local Performing Arts Association, Iwate Art Support Center (NPO), Japan Contemporary Dance Network (NPO), in cooperation with Michinoku Trail Club (NPO), imajimu LLC, Tohoku Institute of Cultural Properties Imaging Research, Minna no Shirushi Godo Kaisha, Kamaishi Civic Hall TETTO

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