Inaba Umbrella Dance

Overview

Inaba no Kasa Odori, the Umbrella Dance of Inaba, is a folk performing art handed down in the Yokomakura district and the Kokufu area of Tottori City in Tottori Prefecture. In it, dancers whirl and brandish long-handled umbrellas adorned with more than a hundred small bells and decorated in vivid colors, moving in a vigorous dance in time with song. Dressed in matching yukata with hand and leg guards, white headbands, and white sashes, the dancers open their umbrellas wide and dance as if cutting in with a shout, in a spirited and dynamic style that is known as a unique traditional art without parallel anywhere else in Japan.

Originally it was a simple rural dance performed to pray for rain or to honor the spirits of the dead at the Bon festival, but when the forms of sword dance were incorporated in the Meiji era, it developed into the vigorous long-handled umbrella dance seen today. In 1974 it was designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Tottori Prefecture, and it continues to be passed down by preservation societies. The umbrella dance of the Tottori Shan-Shan Festival, which colors the streets of Tottori City in summer, was also born from this Inaba no Kasa Odori.

History and Origins

Two main lineages of Inaba no Kasa Odori have been handed down. One is transmitted in the Yokomakura district of Tottori City, where it is said to have originated when, during the famine of 1786, people danced in time with kagura song as a prayer for rain and dedicated the dance to the gods. It was a simple dance performed in the precincts of a shrine on the first day of the eighth month of the old calendar, after the rice planting was finished, and later it changed into an amusement for rural young men who formed groups and competed in skill. Many of the umbrella dances handed down in the surrounding villages are said to have been taught from this Yokomakura tradition.

The other is the lineage transmitted in the Kokufu area, whose origin lies in a legend concerning a great drought at the end of the Edo period. When the Inaba region was struck by an unprecedented drought and the fields cracked dry, an old farmer named Gorosaku danced for three days and three nights, whirling a ceremonial hat, and continued to pray for rain. As if the prayer had reached heaven, heavy rain poured down on the night of the third day, and the region is said to have been spared a great famine. The old man, however, died a few days later from the exhaustion of the dancing, and to console his spirit the villagers, young and old alike, went on dancing with ceremonial hats in hand from that year's Bon festival. This is regarded as the beginning of the umbrella dance in the Kokufu area.

The transformation of the simple ceremonial-hat dance into the vigorous long-handled umbrella dance of today owes much to Tokujiro Yamamoto in the Meiji era. Around 1896, distressed that gambling had become popular among young men after the Sino-Japanese War, Tokujiro Yamamoto of Takaoka in the Kokufu area sought to create a wholesome amusement, and while turning the matter over in his mind he took a hint from the rain umbrella carried by a Shinto priest. Replacing the earlier ceremonial hat with a long-handled umbrella and incorporating the forms of the sword dance that he himself practiced, he completed a spirited dance that the young men took up with enthusiasm. The dance was handed down among the young people of the district and came to be called Inaba no Kasa Odori, and the Kokufu area is regarded as the birthplace of the Inaba umbrella dance. The founder, Tokujiro Yamamoto, became an honorary citizen of the town, and a monument was erected to hand down his achievement.

On October 18, 1974, Inaba no Kasa Odori was designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Tottori Prefecture, and the Yokomakura Umbrella Dance Preservation Society and the Inaba Umbrella Dance Preservation Society took charge of its transmission. Through a long history of rise and decline, the dance that began with the simple prayers of rain-making and Bon memorial has been preserved to this day as a traditional art of which the region is proud.

Highlights

The Long-Handled Umbrella with a Hundred Bells The greatest feature of Inaba no Kasa Odori is the long-handled umbrella, decorated brilliantly and fitted with more than a hundred small bells. Each time a dancer vigorously spins and brandishes the umbrella, the countless bells ring out all at once, creating a gorgeous stage that appeals to both sight and sound. This effect, in which the umbrella itself rings like an instrument, is a distinctive charm not found in other folk performing arts.

A Spirited Style Adapted from Sword Dance The present dance is an adaptation of the sword dance, and its basic form is to open the long-handled umbrella and dance as if cutting in with a shout. Because the movements are intense and powerful, the dance brims with the vitality of youth, just as it was created as a wholesome amusement for young men.

The Interplay of High and Low with Crane and Tortoise The dancers are arranged in even numbers such as six, eight, or ten, and incorporate the postures of the crane and the tortoise to create changes in high and low. The crane represents a high posture and the tortoise a low one, and as an up-and-down rhythm arises within the group dance, a three-dimensional appeal is produced that never grows monotonous.

Writing Characters with the Umbrellas So that multiple dancers may unify the movements of their umbrellas and match their rhythm, an ingenious device is used in which they wave their umbrellas as if writing out the phrase "odore odore, mina odore" in hiragana. What appears scattered is in fact a minutely calculated group dance, and the beauty of the coordinated movement draws the spectators in.

Dignified Matching Costumes The dancers' costumes, matching yukata with hand and leg guards, white headbands, and white sashes, set off the vigorous dance all the more. The sight of many dancers moving in unified and dignified attire is filled with a freshness that recalls the history of the dance as it developed as a dance of rural young men.

Public Performances in the Community by the Preservation Societies In Yokomakura the umbrella dance is performed every year on August 14, and in the Kokufu area it is presented at the summer-evening festivals of each district. As a dance handed down in the community during the Bon season, it is cherished by residents and passed on to the next generation, offering a precious chance to encounter its original form in its home locality.

Event Information and Access

• Location: Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture (Yokomakura, and Takaoka, Mitani, and Aso in the Kokufu area)
• Dates: August 14 in Yokomakura; the summer-evening festivals of each district in the Kokufu area
• Cultural property: Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Tottori Prefecture (designated October 18, 1974)
• Protecting bodies: Yokomakura Umbrella Dance Preservation Society and Inaba Umbrella Dance Preservation Society
• Access (Yokomakura): About 20 minutes by Hinomaru bus on the Kando-Yokomakura line from JR Tottori Station, get off at Yokomakura
• Access (Kokufu area): About 30 to 35 minutes by Hinomaru bus on the Nakagawara line from JR Tottori Station, get off at Aso or Takaoka

Around the Area

The Kokufu area of Tottori City is a historic place that flourished as the center of the old province of Inaba, and historic sites connected with the Manyoshu anthology are scattered nearby. The Inaba Manyo History Museum introduces the connection between Otomo no Yakamochi, who served as governor of Inaba Province in the Nara period, and the Inaba region, as well as materials relating to Inaba no Kasa Odori, allowing visitors to learn more deeply about the history of the umbrella dance.

A short trip to central Tottori City brings visitors to the Tottori Sand Dunes, one of the largest dune fields in Japan, where they can enjoy a majestic landscape facing the Sea of Japan. The Sand Museum adjoining the dunes holds special exhibitions of sand sculptures and draws many people as a highlight of sightseeing in Tottori.

At the Tottori Shan-Shan Festival held in central Tottori City in summer, several thousand people dance the Shan-Shan umbrella dance, which was born from Inaba no Kasa Odori, in unison, unfolding a gorgeous scene in which bells ring on the umbrellas. It is an event that lets visitors feel how the tradition of Inaba no Kasa Odori has been handed down into a large-scale modern festival.

Related Information

• Month: August
• Prefecture and region: Tottori Prefecture (Chugoku region)
• Origin: A rain-making dedication in the famine of 1786, and a rain-making legend of a great drought at the end of the Edo period
• Founding of the present style: Established in the Meiji era by Tokujiro Yamamoto, who incorporated the sword dance (the Kokufu area is the birthplace)
• Cultural property designation: Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Tottori Prefecture (designated October 18, 1974)
• Related event: The parent dance of the Shan-Shan umbrella dance of the Tottori Shan-Shan Festival

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