00:00 [Music]
00:10 [Music]
00:11 Kazuno in Akita in northern Japan.
00:14 Winter here blankets the town with heavy snow.
00:17 [Music]
00:20 Each year on January 2nd, Kazuno's Dai-Nichido shrine hosts an ancient traditional event.
00:27 [Music]
00:31 Dai-Nichido Bugaku consists of seven dances.
00:34 Performers come from each of Kazuno's four districts.
00:38 This is a living tradition that's been taught directly by fathers to sons for 1,300 years.
00:44 [Music]
00:48 Since this is a sacred ceremony, the dancers prepare themselves through purification rites
00:53 that include abstaining from meat.
00:56 [Music]
00:59 As year-end approaches, rehearsals begin in earnest.
01:02 [Music]
01:04 Hello.
01:05 [Music]
01:11 Yasunobu Narita and his son Yoshiki will represent the community of ÅŒsato.
01:17 [Music]
01:20 Yasunobu's dance is the Komamae, which imitates the lively actions of a horse.
01:25 [Music]
01:29 Yoshiki will perform the Torimai, a dance inspired by the movements of a bird.
01:34 This is the only dance performed by children.
01:37 [Music]
01:40 There's no break in rehearsals and preparations, even for New Year.
01:45 [Music]
01:47 Your hands are too high. Drop your shoulders like this.
01:51 This has been a tradition in the Narita family for many generations.
01:56 Yasunobu danced the Torimai when he was a child, too.
02:00 That's my father in costume.
02:03 [Music]
02:06 And this is me as a kid, ready for the Torimai.
02:10 [Music]
02:12 In our family, keeping this tradition alive is more important than anything else.
02:18 [Music]
02:20 This will be Yoshiki's last Torimai.
02:23 He's growing fast and will be too tall next year.
02:27 It's a dance that requires small, adorable children.
02:30 [Music]
02:34 The seven-year-olds who will dance next year watch Yoshiki intently, memorizing every movement.
02:39 [Music]
02:44 January 2nd has arrived.
02:47 [Music]
02:54 The dancers walk two hours through the snow to the shrine,
02:57 following a route that's barely changed over the centuries.
03:00 [Music]
03:07 As always, a large crowd is waiting for the ceremony to begin.
03:11 [Music]
03:17 Yasunobu, absorbed in the dance, seems to actually take on the personality of a horse.
03:23 [Music]
03:32 Now it's Yoshiki's turn.
03:34 [Music]
03:54 The Torimai demands perfect coordination from its three young dancers.
03:59 For his final performance of this dance, Yoshiki showed his best.
04:04 [Music]
04:14 All three of us got the timing just right, thank goodness.
04:20 Next year, it's our turn.
04:23 [Music]
04:26 Dai Nichido Bugaku, an unbroken tradition that's lasted for 1,300 years.
04:32 Fathers teaching sons, and those sons teaching their sons in turn.
04:37 [Music]
04:41 [Silence]
04:47 [Mouse click]
04:48 [Bell ring]
04:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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