Women’s Group Busy Making Present for Elementary School Graduates in Ofunato, Iwate Pref. (2)
Goods made by the women’s club will be displayed for sale at a support event to be held in Tokyo in April. The two Kikuchis and Kushibiki hope to see the results of the event and people’s response to their goods as soon as possible. (The photo at the top shows, from left to right, Ms. Kushibiki, Ms. Yuriko Kikuchi and Ms. Midori Kikuchi.)
Rui, the granddaughter of Kushibiki, will enter Matsuzaki Elementary School this April. She looks forward to attending the girl’s entrance ceremony. Rui, accompanied with her younger brother, had visited her uncle’s house from time to time before and stayed overnight there, because she could play with her cousins. But now she never likes to spend the night there, said Kushibiki. Rui is a gentle, quiet girl. The grandmother, hoping to give a present to the girl on her entrance to elementary school, has asked, “What do you want, Rui?” The grandma has not received her reply as yet, but she hopes to present a hand-knitted bag to Rui.
Goods made by the women’s club will be displayed for sale at a support event to be held in Tokyo in April. The two Kikuchis and Kushibiki hope to see the results of the event and people’s response to their goods as soon as possible. (The photo at the top shows, from left to right, Ms. Kushibiki, Ms. Yuriko Kikuchi and Ms. Midori Kikuchi.)
Rui, the granddaughter of Kushibiki, will enter Matsuzaki Elementary School this April. She looks forward to attending the girl’s entrance ceremony. Rui, accompanied with her younger brother, had visited her uncle’s house from time to time before and stayed overnight there, because she could play with her cousins. But now she never likes to spend the night there, said Kushibiki. Rui is a gentle, quiet girl. The grandmother, hoping to give a present to the girl on her entrance to elementary school, has asked, “What do you want, Rui?” The grandma has not received her reply as yet, but she hopes to present a hand-knitted bag to Rui.
-Local men out to preserve traditional dance performance for recovery-
Niinuma, who supports the women’s club at the Yamagishi temporary housing site, serves as leader of a society for the preservation of the “Toramai” tiger dance as a time-honored folk performance. The energetic and acrobatic dance is performed with three tigers, whose head and body are operated by two players each, led by one conductor called “Saibofuri.” The performers are backed by a band of flutes and drums.
The origin of the dance, designated as an intangible cultural asset by Ofunato City in 1969, dates back to the Kamakura era about 750 years ago, according to Niinuma. The society, which covers two communities with about 130 families, had been invited to perform the dance at various occasions in and outside of the city before the disaster, but part of the members had costumes and other items for the performance in their houses washed away in the disaster. A building with the tiger heads, the drums and other important items stored was also inundated with tsunami waves, but the tiger heads and the drums remained intact. “This was really a miracle,” Niinuma said.
He is working to restore the lost items and help support the livelihood of affected members of the society so that the centuries-old performance may help generate people’s spirits toward overcoming the hardship. Photos and moving pictures are available at a website for the Society for Promotion of the Kadonaka Tiger Dance, which can be found at http://toramai.web.fc2.com/.
Niinuma, who supports the women’s club at the Yamagishi temporary housing site, serves as leader of a society for the preservation of the “Toramai” tiger dance as a time-honored folk performance. The energetic and acrobatic dance is performed with three tigers, whose head and body are operated by two players each, led by one conductor called “Saibofuri.” The performers are backed by a band of flutes and drums.
The origin of the dance, designated as an intangible cultural asset by Ofunato City in 1969, dates back to the Kamakura era about 750 years ago, according to Niinuma. The society, which covers two communities with about 130 families, had been invited to perform the dance at various occasions in and outside of the city before the disaster, but part of the members had costumes and other items for the performance in their houses washed away in the disaster. A building with the tiger heads, the drums and other important items stored was also inundated with tsunami waves, but the tiger heads and the drums remained intact. “This was really a miracle,” Niinuma said.
He is working to restore the lost items and help support the livelihood of affected members of the society so that the centuries-old performance may help generate people’s spirits toward overcoming the hardship. Photos and moving pictures are available at a website for the Society for Promotion of the Kadonaka Tiger Dance, which can be found at http://toramai.web.fc2.com/.
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