Keeping Traditions AliveSome joyful noises offered up to the gods are much more boisterous—as suggested by the very name of the jangara nenbutsu dance of Iwaki. In this tradition, danc-ers visit the homes of those who have had a death in the family in the past year to perform a memorial service complete with dance, drums, and gong-like handbells. (Jangara is the onomatopoeic sound of the lively instru-ments; nenbutsu is an invocation of the Buddha’s name.) The visits are made in mid-August during the Obon hol-idays, when spirits of the dead are welcomed back into the world of the living for three days. Customs surrounding Obon, like this one, are a mix of ancient native and Buddhist beliefs—and variations are found across Japan. Iwaki’s dance typically involves a troupe of ten or so who move athletically to the intense beat they make with their drums and bells. A number of these dance groups are active in the city. The stirring “jangle” of their performances rising and fading here and there across residential neighborhoods is a memorable soundscape of an Iwaki summer.Handed down in the Kumagawa district of Okuma is an animal-spirit dance known as chigo shishimai, for which men and boys don elaborate masks and move in time to the accompaniment of drums and flutes. The costumes represent, in body and spirit, animals such as deer and wild boar that have long been a source of the community’s food. Five dancers, called shishiko, play the roles of four such beasts, along with that of a wild mon-key. For more than 200 years, the dance was offered at Suwa Shrine in prayer for good harvests and protection from calamities and illness. While Kumagawa saw much of its population dispersed after the 2011 disasters, the dance is still being performed by schoolchildren today, backed by the support of a local preservation society.on the site of what was formerly the residence of the Matsumoto family, business magnates who amassed a great fortune from the Edo period (1603–1867) onward through steelmaking, sericulture, and other industrial pursuits. The buildings of the great mansion that once stood here were long ago lost to fire, but the foundations of a noh stage remain, and records show that both noh and kyogen were performed here centuries ago. The town has been using the site, now called Daijin Yashiki, to once again stage plays from these classical perform-ing arts.In Katsurao, noh performances are staged outdoors Taue-Odori Rice-Planting DanceA ceremonial rite observed in Namie’s Ukedo district, the taue-odori is affiliated with the Anba Festival held at Kusano Shrine on the third Sunday of February. On occasion, the dance is performed at other events around Fukushima. The shrine was washed away by the tsunami, but has since been rebuilt. Jangara Invocation DanceThis dance-cum-memorial service is performed annually from August 13 to 15, mainly in Iwaki. The lively sounds of the dancers’ drums and handbells are a highlight of summer in the city.Kumagawa Spirit DanceAn annual devotional rite performed by men and boys, this spirit dance was customarily performed at Suwa Shrine in the Kumagawa district of Okuma. Sadly, the shrine remains inside the evacuation zone, but citizens are keeping the dance alive with performances elsewhere. Noh and Kyogen Since 2019, the town of Katsurao has staged occasional performances of noh and kyogen at Daijin Yashiki, the site of the former residence of the wealthy Matsumoto family. The productions revive a local theater tradition that had lapsed for 160 years.7
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