- HOME
- Search in the site
- Horaiji Temple Dengaku Festival
Shinshiro-City Horaiji Temple Dengaku Festival
Date : 01/03/2025
A festival as old as time
The Dengaku Festival at famous Horaiji Temple originated as a memorial service, idealized by the monks as a ritualistic dance to be carried out along with the townspeople. The festival is held in honor of the protective divinity who succeeded in beheading a mountain-dwelling demon by order of the legendary ascetic Rishu Sennin, to whom the temple's foundation is attributed.
The procedures reached their current model after the cross-mixing believed to have occurred during the Muromachi period, combining elements of the countryside life and asceticism with the religious faith in Bhaisajyaguru, the Buddha of Medicine, also known in Japan as Yakushi Nyorai. Held mainly to pray for an abundant harvest, this folkloric art features extensive performances of kagura dance and music as well as ta'asobi movements, and is appointed a national important intangible folk cultural property.
Keyword
