Singing, Dancing, and Performing at Festivals

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  2. How to enjoy Sado Island
  3. Traditional Culture on Sado Island
  4. Singing, Dancing, and Performing at Festivals

Most of the festivals are held in spring and autumn, when people offer prayers for good crops and show gratitude for rich harvests to deities and ancestors. Sado has numerous small communities, and the festivals are as varied as the villages. Join in the festivities like a local when residents gather to offer songs and dances.

田の中央から、時計回りに苗を植えていく。田の中心には神様が降りてくるという

Planting seedlings in a clockwise spiral starting in the middle of the paddy is believed to create a path for deities to descend into.

The Song of Rice, an island treasure (National Designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property)

Kurumadaue (spiral rice planting) on Sado Island

Sado no Kurumadaue

Accompanied by a rice-planting song sung from the edge of the paddy, three female rice planters clad in classic attire plant seedlings in an outward spiral starting in the middle of the paddy. Symbolising the sun and acting as a guide for the god of the field's descension, planting in a spiral is thought to be a form of prayer for bumper crops. The rice grown in this field is harvested, dried and threshed separately from other fields, and this practice preserves the old rice-planting traditions. Similar traditions used to be upheld in Iwate, Gifu, Kochi and other prefectures, but most of them have disappeared and now there are only two places left in Japan. This very rare and valuable rice planting custom is handed down by the Kitamura family in Kitaushima on Sado, and it is the only one that can be witnessed on the island. Spiral rice planting takes place in the middle of or at the end of May every year, in the largest rice paddy (called Oda) of the Kitamura family.

Place: Kita-Ushima, Sado City

Information: There are many agricultural rituals on Sado Island, including the Ta-asobi Shinji ritual at Hakusan Shrine and Gosho Shrine, among others.

  • Otaue Rice Planting Festival at Gosho Shrine in Shimokawamo (Prefecturally-designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property)

    Held annually on February 6th

  • Rice-field Fun Ritual (ta-asobi shinji: Prefecturally-designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property)

    Held annually on January 3rd

大膳神社能舞台（県指定有形民俗文化財）弘化3（1846）再建。旧鏡板に残る墨書の記録から現存する佐渡最古の能舞台とされる

Noh Stage at Daizen Shrine (Prefecturally-designated Tangible Folk Cultural Property) Reconstructed in 1846. It is believed to be the oldest existing Noh stage on Sado Island, based on the record of ink writing left on the old back wall.

Oldest Noh stage on Sado Island

Sado Daizen Shrine Noh Stage

Sado Daizen Shrine Noh Stage

It is believed that there were once over 200 Noh stages on Sado. There are now just 35, but this number still equals one third of the total remaining Noh stages nationwide. Such a large number of stages reflects how familiar Sado's general population was with Noh plays. Zeami, a playwright who brought Noh to perfection, was exiled to Sado in the 15th century, but it was not until the 17th century that Noh gained recognition among the general population. This happened because Nagayasu Okubo, whose father was a performer of Sarugaku (popular entertainment involving acrobatics and mime), became the Commissioner of Sado and brought Noh performers here from Nara. After that, Noh plays were promoted, backed by the wealth produced from the gold and silver mines, and took root in people's lives. These days, some locals still hold Noh performances.

Address: 561 Takeda, Sado City

Information: Bonfire Noh performances are held annually, mainly in early summer, on Noh stages around the island.

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新穂日吉神社前で勇壮な鬼太鼓が奉納される

Onidaiko, a dynamic drum performance is dedicated in front of the Niibo Hiyoshi Shrine.

A vibrant festival with a history of 400 years (Prefecturally-designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property)

Niibo Sanno Festival

Niibo Sanno Festival

Celebrated by six surrounding communities in Niibo, Sanno Festival is an annual festival of Niibo Hiyoshi Shrine, where portable shrines from all seven Sanno shrines gather. Niibo Hiyoshi Shrine is believed to be a shrine where deities of Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine (the head of Sanno shrine in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture), were divided and re-enshrined. Each of the two shrines consists of seven smaller shrines and have similar rituals, and that suggests a strong tie between them. During the festival, a Buddhist monk recites sutras in the main hall. This clearly reflects the fusion of Shintoism (an ancient tradition of nature worship) and Buddhism, where the temple attached to a shrine was actively involved in its management until shrines and temples were officially separated in the late 19th century. This festival features the gathering of portable shrines from surrounding communities, Ondeko (masked deity dance) groups visiting door to door, and ritual archery on horseback. It is not clear when this festival began, but according to the history book Sadoshi, horseback archery and portable shrine parades were already being carried out in the late 16th century.

Place: Kami-Niibo, Sado City

  • 彫り師による鬼面）

    Deity masks carved by sculptors

  • 集落の家１軒１軒を鬼太鼓と獅子舞が門付けする

    Deity mask dance and shishimai (lion dance) groups visit door-to-door in the neighborhood

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  • 久知八幡宮祭礼神事

    A traditional event reminiscent of a picture scroll from the Middle Ages (Sado-designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property)

    Kuji Hachimangu Shrine Festival

    Kuji Hachimangu Shrine

    This is a festival with a long history recorded in a document compiled in 1405. The festival begins with attendants and archers staying overnight at the shrine on September 13, followed by a pre-festival event on the evening of the 14th. The main festival, on 15 September, includes rituals held at the big hall, seawater scooping, a portable shrine parade and archery on horseback. Three neighbouring communities dedicate performances such as 'to-to' (sword dance), Ondeko (deity mask dance) and Hanagasa Odori (flower hat dance: Prefectural Designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property).

    Place: Shimokuji, Sado City

    Information: Currently, the main festival is held on a Sunday closest to September 15.

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  • 佐渡の人形芝居

    Popular entertainment enjoyed by islanders (Designated National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property)

    Puppet Theatre on Sado Island

    Bunya, Sekkyo, Noroma puppet theatres

    Puppetry on Sado has developed uniquely based on the old Joruri style. One puppeteer manipulates one puppet, unlike Bunraku where each puppet requires three puppeteers to operate it. Bunya puppet drama is performed in the style derived from the dramatic bunya-bushi narration in Kyoto, accompanied by a shamisen (three-string lute) player who is also a narrator. Sekkyo puppet plays, one of the oldest forms of puppetry, are accompanied by sekkyo-bushi chanting, which is associated with the teachings of Buddhism. Noroma is a comic puppet drama performed in lines including Sado dialect.

    Information: There are eight puppet theater groups on the island.

  • 善知鳥神社祭礼行事

    Stately and gorgeous portable shrine procession (Designated Sado Intangible Folk Cultural Asset)

    Utou Shrine Festival

    Utou Shrine

    The dynamic portable shrine procession, parading through the streets and accompanied by calls of encouragement like, "Chosaya!" makes an impressive scene, along with thousands of paper lanterns and the echoes of a conch-shell trumpet. The taiko drumming of the Ondeko (deity mask dance) in this area is said to originate from mimes imitating miners' movements of digging for ore at gold and silver mines. A performer wearing a mask of an elderly man dances to the rhythm of a taiko drum, holding a square, wooden measuring cup and a persimmon.

    Place: Aikawa, Sado City

    Information: October 19th every year

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  • 小獅子舞

    Similar to the deer dance found in the Tohoku region (Designated Sado Intangible Folk Cultural Property)

    Kojishimai (Little Deer Dance)

    Kojishimai (Little Deer Dance)

    This tradition is believed to have been brought from Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto at the time of the founding of an Inari shrine. A trio of deer (a stag, a doe and a fawn) performs two styles of dance to two different songs: one is dedicated to the shrine, and the other is performed in town. Kojishimai can be seen in the Akadomari, Ryotsu and Aikawa areas, too.

    Place: Ogi-machi, Sado City, etc.

    Information: Dates vary from district to district.

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