Hanawa Bayashi

花輪ばやし

Historical Background

Hanawa Bayashi has been played as the music for the festival of Sakiwai-Inari Shraine in which Ubusunagami is enshrined. This Shrine was built in 1204 during the Kamakura period. It is not clear when this music started to be played. However, the oldest document which records this music was from the Edo period. Since the Meiji period, people started to create various types of floats, such as the main one with gorgeous decorations and the one with a big object of celebrity, so the festival became more gorgeous. It was only performed by the group from three towns, Dai-machi, Yachi-machi, and Muikamachi, however, the number of groups increased gradually. After the World War, the music was performed outside Akita as well, and it started to be called Hanawa Bayashi. The music was also started to be performed at the event in other countries such as France, U.S., and China. In 2016, It was registered in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan.

Characteristics

Hanawa Bayashi is offered at the annual festival of Sakiwai-Inari Shrine, the most important shrine in the Hanawa area, in Kazuno city. The Sakiwai-Inari Shrine is a shrine of a local deity that has attracted the ardent worship of local residents. Each local district makes a group to carry a float for the festival. The sacred palanquin (mikoshi) starts from the main building of the shrine on August 16 and after going around the town, comes back to the shrine on August 20. On August 19 and 20, each district in the town offers its music float to the deity. The floats have gorgeous pillars and ornaments without roofs. Many of them have gorgeous decorations such as bargeboards and other decorations. Lively Hanawa Bayashi is played on and around the floats.