Tatsuno City
Nagihachiman Shrine


Intangible Folk Cultural Property Designated by the Hyogo Prefectural Government
Edo Period

"After the triumphant battle with Korea, Empress Jingu sensed the scent of aholy spirit. A lion appeared in front of her and took her to the source of the scent, a sandalwood tree. The Empress realized that it was a sacred place, and worshipped here." This is the legend describing the origin of the shrine, and of the ritual lion-dance, shishimai, which is performed here.
People belonging to each of 16 parishes take turns to perform the traditional lion-dance, dedicated to the shrine on the annual festival day, October 20th. The festival has a history of a few hundreds years.
The shishimai dance is performed by two persons, with lion masks and costumes called "yutan", who do improvisational dancing to the rhythm of traditional instruments, together with child characters who have fans, big hats decorated with flowers, Japanese halberds and so on. Some dancers dance very elegantly and others dance lively or humorously. In particular, the dancing which is known as "Yagi-no-Tsugijishi" is very famous for its acrobatic performance.

Source: The Tatsuno municipal government

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