Divine Dance - Kanmai

Folk performing arts. (1) Kagura, a form of Shinto music and dance handed down in Kagoshima Prefecture and the Nishimorokata District of Miyazaki Prefecture, formerly the territory of the Satsuma Domain. It is also called Kanme. It is dedicated to shrines as a dance ground. It is part of the Izumo Kagura tradition, which accompanies the rock door opening ceremony. One of the most well-known pieces, the Rice Field God Dance, is performed alone at shrine rice planting festivals and village rice field god assemblies. It has rapidly declined since the Meiji period, and is now handed down in over ten places, including Omiya Shrine in Iriki Town, Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture, and Yunoo Shrine in Hishikarikawakita, Isa City. (2) Koujinmai, a dance that is distributed from Yukaba, Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, to the Kumage District to the west. The Gyokuha Shrine Dance, which is performed at the grand festival every seven years, is also called Ganmai, and its central Hasseki dance is an acrobatic event in which a white-robed Kojin climbs a tall pillar pine and descends from one side of a rope. In Iwaijima, Kaminoseki Town, Kumage County, the shrine welcomes a deity and a Kagura performer from Imiwakemiya Shrine on the Kunisaki Peninsula (Kunisaki City, Oita Prefecture) to perform the 33rd Kamimai dance at the Kojinmai, which is performed every five years.

[Nobuo Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

民俗芸能。(1)鹿児島県と旧薩摩(さつま)藩領の宮崎県西諸県(にしもろかた)郡地方に伝わる神楽(かぐら)。カンメともいう。神社の境内を舞庭として奉納される。岩戸開きを伴う出雲(いずも)神楽系統で、代表的な演目の一つ田の神(かみ)舞は神社のお田植祭や村の田の神講のなかでも単独に舞われる。明治以後急速に衰退し、現在は鹿児島県薩摩川内(さつませんだい)市入来(いりき)町大宮神社、伊佐(いさ)市菱刈川北(ひしかりかわきた)の湯之尾(ゆのお)神社など10余か所に伝存する。(2)山口県岩国市行波(ゆかば)から西の熊毛(くまげ)郡一帯に分布する荒神舞(こうじんまい)。7年目ごとの大祭に行われる行波の神舞は願舞(がんまい)ともいい、その中心となる八関(はっせき)の舞は、白装束の荒神が高い柱松に登り、一方の綱から降りてくる曲芸的な行事が残る。熊毛郡上関(かみのせき)町祝島(いわいじま)では5年目ごとの荒神舞に、国東(くにさき)半島の伊美別宮(いみわけみや)（大分県国東市）から神霊と神楽太夫(たゆう)を迎えて神舞33番を奉納する。

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