Many foreigners wish to dance Onikenbai.
Iwasaki Onikenbai Preservation Society

Iwasaki Onikenbai Preservation Society

In 1993, Iwasaki Onikenbai was designated as a national important intangible folk cultural property. It is practiced in the Waga region, Kitakami City, Iwate Prefecture. Iwasaki Onikenbai, with its 1300 year history, is widely known as the traditional performing art in Iwate Prefecture.
Legend has it that it originated in today's Nara Prefecture, the founder of Shugendo (Japanese asceticism-shamanism incorporating Shinto and Buddhist concepts) who is En-no-Gyoujya, or Ozuno performed (practiced) as Nenbutsu-odori（a Buddhist dance）to relieve people in order to excommunicate evil spirits. There are traces of this legend that it was transmitted from Nara and Kyoto to Kitakami via mountainous areas. The knot in the costume shows the characteristics. It is also said that it took root in Kitakami for the requiem of the spirits of the Fujiwara clan and their retainers who were destroyed.
There is a permanent enbujo-theater which is called "house of the Demon" in Waga, and children in the region are familiar to the dance from the age of elementary school. At the castle site of Iwasaki Castle in Iwasaki, there is a monument to honor successive Onikenbai performers. It shows deep respect for the Onikenbai Dance and awareness as a culture that supports the community.
Onikenbai has been invited to the celebrations such as weddings and other events in Iwate Prefecture. Moreover, it has performed with the world-class Japanese drumming group "Kodo" and Iwasaki Onikenbai Preservation Society has a strong connection with Kodo. Some people from other regions often come to visit us to have an experience with a trial dance lesson. In the recent years, some foreigners such as Australians who watched the Onikenbai through YouTube also visited here as well.

Address: 5-58, Iwasaki, Waga-cho, Kitakami City, Iwate Prefecture

Website: Kitakami City
http://www.city.kitakami.iwate.jp/english/torism/onikenbai.html