F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-236

Yabuta Shrine Gannoyama Rite (Gion Festival Furyu Dance)

陽夫多神社 願之山行事やぶたじんじゃ がんのやまぎょうじ

The Gannoyama Rite is a late-medieval furyu ("refined-display") dance event dedicated each year on August 1 at the Gion Festival of Yabuta Shrine in Baba, Iga City, Mie. Descended from the float ceremonies of Kyoto's Gion Festival, it pacifies the plague deity and serves as a "vow-releasing" (gan-hodoki) dance, performed as many times as there are vows that have been made. The dancing comprises two types: the "small dance" (kodori), in which twelve young children beat small drums while stepping side to side and back, and the "great dance" (oodori), in which six young men advance while beating a great drum mounted on a pulled float. The float, called the Gannoyama, is drawn in three stages, and the whole rite ends with the "shichihen-gaeshi" (seven-fold turning), in which the band of small-dancers circles the great dance seven times counterclockwise before the worship hall. As a rite that preserves the character of late-medieval rhythm-based performing arts with high scholarly value, it was designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Mie Prefecture on March 11, 2009.