いっきゅう　閑話休題

There are several hypotheses regarding why and how Araodori started. The dominant one is as follows: In 1530 AD, the warriors led by Goto, the lord of the Takeo Clan, defeated Arima’s forces who were trying to invade the Takeo territory from the Shimabara area. The low class warriors called Ashigai started dancing spontaneously in celebration of the victory. This dance eventually developed into a unique traditional art form.



The Art Forms;As the videos show, the common way of dancing in each place is by keeping a crouching posture like that of Sumo wrestlers. There are subtle differences among the Araodori in the three places: the hand and feet movements, Hayashi or music, costumes, and the order of songs and dances. The way the leading dancers called “Mosho” are followed by a long line of performers when entering and leaving under the Torii (i.e., gates of shrines) is a unique form of the celebrations. The Mosho’s costumes and their swords are reproductions of the ones used by the Ashigaru during those times



Songs;The contents of the songs are about love and celebration. This is particularly true for songs of the early to mid Edo era. Low class warriors called, Ashigaru were dancing and singing spontaneously to celebrate their victories in various conflicts. The contents of those songs were arranged in their own way.



A Furyu dance; is also performed by juniors to pray for rich harvests. Surprisingly, the junior dancers performed well. According to the announcements, they practiced hard over several months after school. I believe the local residents, surrounding communities, and schools have a valuable tradition of sincerely preserving their own traditional art forms indeed.

written by Hiroto Ikeda :1-Q　presents