Omonde - Omonde

This is an old Bon dance handed down in Saganoshima (Miiraku-cho, Goto City) in the Goto Islands, Nagasaki Prefecture. It is a drum dance similar to the Chankoko of Fukue Island in the same city, and is performed by young people in the village during the Bon Festival in August, a month later than the festival. It has been designated a Selected Intangible Folk Cultural Property of the country. The dancers wear short-sleeved shirts and short loincloths, and wear helmets decorated with five-colored paper cutouts on their heads. They wear drums around their necks, hold short drumsticks in both hands, and dance in a circle while beating them. They go back and forth, twist their bodies, bend, and look up to the sky with their drumsticks held up. There are two gong players and ten dancers. The lyrics chanted by the gong players are something like "Mo-de-ho, Omon, Omon, O-oh, De-ho, Omon-day, Omon-day." It is danced at each household celebrating the first Bon festival, as well as at temples and graveyards. It is a Buddhist chant dance typical of the tropics.

[Hidezaburo Hagiwara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

長崎県五島(ごとう)列島の嵯峨ノ島(さがのしま)（五島市三井楽(みいらく)町）に伝えられる古い盆踊り。同市福江(ふくえ)島のチャンココと同系の太鼓踊りで、月遅れの8月の盆に、集落の青年たちが踊る。国の選択無形民俗文化財に指定されている。半袖シャツに短い腰巻、五色の切り紙で飾った兜(かぶと)を頭にかぶっている。太鼓を首から下げ、両手に短い桴(ばち)を持ってこれをたたき、円陣をつくって踊る。行きつ戻りつし、身をよじり、身をかがめ、桴をかざして天を仰ぐ。鉦叩(かねたた)きが2人、踊り手は10人。鉦叩きの唱える歌詞は「モーデーホー　オーモン　オーモン　オーオー　デーホー　オーモンデー　オーモンデー」といったもの。初盆の家ごとに踊り、寺や墓所で踊る。南国らしい供養の念仏踊である。

［萩原秀三郎］

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