Fall

The Nakagawauchi lion dance was held to pray for safety in the mountains and good harvest. The dance stopped being performed in 2007.

However, in 2016, with the hopes of keeping the tradition alive, the children of Nakagawauchi learned the dance, and it was performed as a children's lion dance.

Floats, called hanadai, are carried through the town by young men.

The hanadai are decorated with lanterns. Every other year they are also decorated with paper flowers.

The hanadai are up to 10 meters tall. At the end of the night they are spun in circles, dancing wildly in the evening air.

Whaleboat songs, songs sung by people involved in whaling from the 17th to the 19th centuries, are offered at the shrine. As they drift through the air they call up a sense of melancholic nostalgia.

Both mikoshi (portable Shinto shrines) and boats are carried down to the beach in a procession.

Mago-uta (packhorse workers songs) and sword dances are performed and offered at the shrine.

The mikoshi (portable shrine) is carried from in front of the City Hall down to Murotsu Port.

Traditional performances such as lion dances and niwaka (a social satire play) are offered at the shrine.

These performances are designated as intangible folk cultural objects by Kochi prefecture.

Niwaka is a type of improvisational play passed down in this area from the Edo period (1603-1868).

The Shiina Shinto Festival's mikoshiarai, where the mikoshi (portable shrine) is plunged into the raging ocean, is extremely impressive.

Every 15th of October, the Shiina sword dance is offered at the Shiina Hachiojigu Shine. The dance is performed in the front building of the shrine.

Instead of a small gong and drum, the dances are accompanied by wooden clappers (hyoshigi), making the performance reminiscent of critical moments in kabuki plays (a form of Japanese theater).

This sword dance is registered as a intangible folk cultural property by Kochi prefecture.

Traditional sword dances are performed and offered at the shrine each year. This is also the only location in Muroto where sanbaso, a celebratory kabuki (a form of Japanese theater) dance praying for prosperity and abundance, is performed.

A lion dance used to be performed at each house, starting early in the morning. On the Sunday the mikoshi (portable Shinto shrine) is carried from Iwado Shrine down to the ocean.

The Ozaki sword dance is said to have been brought back by Uemon Satou when he went to Kawachi Province (now part of Osaka) to study to be a swordsmith.

With 5 acts and 10 dances the dancers train extensively before the festival.

The Takaoka Shinto Festival occurs over two days, with preparatory rituals held the first day. Ceremonies and festivities start in the morning on the second day. These include sword dancing and a mikoshi (a portable Shinto shrine) procession around the neighborhood.

Appropriate to a fishing town, the mikoshi (a portable Shinto shrine) is shaken wildly while it is carried around the town. Young boys also visit the houses of each shrine parishioner, performing a staff dance in a ceremony said to chase evil spirits away from the home and provide good luck.

Starting early in the morning the day before the festival, 263 mochi cakes are made from pounded taro root.

The Gicho Shrine is dedicated to the samurai Yoshinaga Niki, who fled to this area along with his household, due to trouble in his political career. The 263 mochi cakes are made for the 263 people who fled with him.

Early in the morning on the day of the festival, the men from this area make bows and arrows to be offered at the shrine.