Kusatsu’s Sanyare Odori

Passed down in 7 areas of Kusatsu City, Sanyare Odori is a folk performing art that preserves costumes and rhythms unique to each area. The dance is performed in conjunction with shrine festivals, accompanied by instruments and refrains.

About Kusatsu’s Sanyare Odori

Kusatsu’s Sanyare Odori is a folk performing art passed down in 7 areas of Kusatsu City: Yagura, Shimogasa, Kataoka, Nagatsuka, Shina, Yoshida, and Shina-naka.

Costumes, dance styles, and rhythms vary by area, with people carrying fans and instruments surrounding the child and young-adult dancers.

It is called by this name because “Sanyare” is repeated in its short hayashi refrain.

In Kusatsu, it is said to embody prayers for abundant harvests and protection from epidemics.

Source: 「草津のサンヤレ踊り」について詳しく知ろう｜草津市

Festival highlights

Highlights include vivid costumes and dance expressions that vary from area to area.

People carrying fans, sasara rattles, surigane gongs, and other instruments surround the dancers, who dance to the hayashi refrain.

In Yoshida, the wisteria at Sandaijin Shrine and the dance are presented in the same shrine precincts; in Shina-naka, the singing and dancing pick up pace in response to the call “Shomo, shomo.”

Another distinctive feature is the opportunity to compare differences between areas such as Yagura and Shimogasa.

Kusatsu’s prayers and dazzling dances, performed by 7 communities

What to expect

Held in conjunction with the shrine festivals in each area, dancers form a procession and move along, and perform dances that include facing one another in a dance area.

Instruments such as drums, flutes, a surigane gong, kakko drums, suri-sasara rattles, and small hand drums are used, and the arrangements and performances vary by area.

In the dance in Shimogasa, the uke runs off carrying the drum, while the taiko player chases after them and beats it.

In some areas, the dance is performed alongside a , connecting the festival rites with performing arts.

Source: 国指定文化財等データベース

Location and access

Venue and address: Performances are held at Wakamiya Hachiman-gu (Yagura), Osugi Shrine (Shimogasa), Inkishiro Shrine (Kataoka and Nagatsuka), Shina Shrine (Shina), Sandaijin Shrine (Yoshida), and Sosha Shrine (Shina-naka).

Source: 草津のサンヤレ踊り - 草津市観光物産協会

Event venue 滋賀県草津市若宮八幡宮

This map uses the venue name. Check the official guide for the event area and entrances.

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Dates and season

It is usually held on May 3 in various areas of Kusatsu City.

However, the Yagura Sanyare Dance is held once every 2 years, and the Nagatsuka Sanyare Dance once every 3 years.

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写真：運動会プロテインパワー / CC BY-SA 4.0

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Origins and History of Kusatsu’s Sanyare Odori

Its precise origins are unknown, but based on the arrangement of instruments and other features, it is thought to derive from the furyu hayashimono tradition, which was popular in the Kinki region centered on Kyoto around the late Muromachi period.

Some costumes worn by the Shimogasa dancers bear an ink inscription dated Teikyo 5 (1688), preserving an old style.

In Heisei 30, it became a component of a Japan Heritage site; in Reiwa 2, it was designated a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property as “Omi Konan Sanyare Odori”; and in Reiwa 4, it was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Official information

Kusatsu City Official: “Learn More About Kusatsu’s Sanyare Odori”