Ultimate land - a year of IwasakiOnikenbai(sword dance)
Director Nagaru Miyake
Countries
Duration 161 min
Synopsis
Iwasaki OniKenbai (sword dance) is the traditional local performing art with 1,300 years of history in the rural area of Iwasaki, the northern part of Japan. It is a “Chanting Sword Dance” but is called “Onikenbai”due to its brave dance with unordinary masks. People in this area take up OniKenbai from the time in nursery or elementary schools, thus they all can dance that, and it seems as the entire regional community moves around it as their focus. This is a documentary film of those people with OniKenbai, including not only the dance scenes but also the daily lives of their farm work, lessons to kids or somber rituals, shot in different seasons.
Iwasaki OniKenbai (sword dance) is the traditional local performing art with 1,300 years of history in the rural area of Iwasaki, the northern part of Japan. It is a “Chanting Sword Dance” but is called “Onikenbai”due to its brave dance with unordinary masks. People in this area take up OniKenbai from the time in nursery or elementary schools, thus they all can dance that, and it seems as the entire regional community moves around it as their focus. This is a documentary film of those people with OniKenbai, including not only the dance scenes but also the daily lives of their farm work, lessons to kids or somber rituals, shot in different seasons.