Kagura at Hiroshima Castle

For the month of November on Saturday nights that are free Kagura performances near Hiroshima Castle, so I thought I would check it out.

Kagura is a form of sacred Japanese dances that is performed in honour of the gods. It is a popular form of entertainment today, as well as a way of giving thanks for the harvest in autumn. The particular show I saw was in the Iwami-style which orginated in the mountains northwest of Hiroshima. The show is accompanied by a small group of drummers on stage that set the tempo for the performance (hachi-byoshi eight beat tempo). The performers wear fantastic, colourful costumes. Very few words are spoken, so the story is explained mostly through gestures. This made the performance even better, because I didn't have to struggle with figuring out the Japanese!

I looked up the origins of the performance that we saw, and this is what I found:

"Takiyasha-hime:
During the Tengyô Revolt (939-941), Taira no Masakado (?-940) is attacked by Fujiwara no Hidesato and Taira no Sadamori . Masakado's daughter, Satsuki-hime, when told of her father's enemies, puts a curse on their boats and begins planning an attack, but Imperial Guard Mitsukuni, a master of yin-yang, is given an imperial order to go to Shimotsuke (modern Tochigi Prefecture) to break her curse."

I definetely didn't get this out of the show, and I doubt most people did. It was still entertaining to watch...check out the pics!

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