Location: Himeno, Nikaho City
Site(s) of performance: Kushi Shrine and other various places in the community
Dates: Hatsu-uma (i.e. the first day of Ox in February)
Category: Shishi-Kagura
The performance mainly consists of the execution of Lion Head Dance (also called Twelve-Number Lion Dance), a kind of shishimai (lion dances) at the occasion of the Inari Festival on the day of Hatsu-uma (the first day of Ox in February). The performers, young boys up to the third grade in junior high schools, used to go around in the community and executed the dance for prayer at individual houses upon request. It is now performed by the members of the shrine’s priest’s family and they only walk around with the lion head in the community without performing the dance.
