Traditional Performing Arts of Gokasecho, Miyazaki Prefecture — Usu-daiko Dance

The Usu-daiko dance performed at the autumn grand festival of Gion Shrine was once offered on the lunar calendar date of September 9, so it is also called the "kunchi dance," and it has been passed down for more than 400 years. It is said to have begun when members of the defeated Taira clan, driven from Kyoto and wandering in exile, reached the mountain hamlet of Shiiba on their way to safety and, while remembering the glittering capital, danced in the village of Kuraoka.

The dance shows a poised, dignified movement within its grace, evoking the hearts of people from the capital, and it is offered each year at Gion Shrine’s autumn festival.

<Legendary Events>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the first year of Bunji (1185), near the end of the Genpei conflicts, remnants of the Taira clan who were defeated at the Battle of Dan-no-ura fled into the interior to evade the Genji pursuit. They reached the village of Kuraoka and, on their way to Mt. Shiiba, left the weak, women, and children in the mountains near Kuraoka Hakki because of the steep, treacherous roads.

In Genkyu 2, the Kamakura shogunate did not ease its pursuit of the Taira remnants and ordered Nasu Daihachiro Munenaga to hunt down the clan that had fled into the Kyushu Mountains.

Receiving the order, Nasu Daihachiro's party entered Kuraoka intending to head for Shiiba, and finding the Taira fugitives in Kuraoka lacking the will to fight, they staged a dance of shared company to comfort them after the long journey, setting aside the victors' arrogance to show compassion for the defeated.

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The dance described above became the foundation of the Kuraoka Usu-daiko dance, which, after cycles of prosperity and decline and several relocations over the ages, is said to have survived in its present form.

Dancing to the beat of drums and bells, performers display dignified movements within an overall elegance.

In recent years, the Gion Shrine Usu-daiko Dance Preservation Society, with the cooperation of children from Gokase Nature School and local parishioners, has carried on the dance.

Schedule for the Usu-daiko dance: every year on October 9.