In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Chikara Furumizu could have been excused this year if the troupe he leads didn't do the traditional Obon dance to pray for the souls of the dead.
In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Chikara Furumizu could have been excused this year if the troupe he leads didn't do the traditional Obon dance to pray for the souls of the dead.
After all, his group members had lost many of their props, including mask and swords, in the March 11 tsunami. Only one of their four drums survived.
But Furumizu, 65, knew his Iwate Prefecture dancing troupe makes the rounds of houses where somebody had passed away the previous year, and many of those along the route lost their lives in the tsunami.
"Every household presumes that the sword dance will come along. We have no choice but to do it," Furumizu said, making his decision to continue after consulting his colleagues.
Along with Furumizu's determination, his preservation society, which puts on the dance, got a helping hand after word of its plight got out.
A Tokyo-based folk performing art group that had ties with Furumizu's group, an alumni association at a private university in Tokyo where the society had performed a dance at a commemorative event, neighboring villages and fellow Iwate Prefecture residents came to the society's assistance.
Having learned about the damage on the preservation society's website and through news reports, they donated masks, drums and as much as 1 million yen ($13,000).
Furumizu appreciates their goodwill.
"We will maintain our motivation to continue with our tradition, although we may not be able to do everything the old way," he said, as restoring everything back to normal would cost an additional 4 million yen.
Thanks to the support, however, on Aug. 5, a group of children and youngsters, with swords in hands, danced to the tune of flutes and drums on the grounds of Enmanji temple in the Okirai district of Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, a community on the Sanriku coast.
The dance, handed down from the Edo Period (1603-1867), is called Urahama Nenbutsu Kenbai (Urahama Buddhist prayer sword dance).
There are estimated to be more than 1,000 folk performing art traditions in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, the hardest hit by the March 11 disaster. According to the prefectural education boards, at least 15 intangible folk cultural properties in Miyagi Prefecture, designated as such by the central and local governments, and 13 such cultural properties in Iwate Prefecture, are known to have lost their props to the tsunami or had their performing members impacted by the disaster.
The extent of damage remains unknown in Fukushima Prefecture, which was also hit by the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
With the passage of time after the disaster, however, efforts are increasing to resuscitate traditional arts that are at risk.
In the Kobuchihama fishing community in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, located on the Oshika Peninsula, goodwill support has saved a lion dance tradition, part of the New Year's celebration. More than 110 of the approximately 160 houses in the community were washed away by the tsunami, as was a lion's head used in the dance. The valiant lion dance, handed down from the Edo Period, is the pride and joy of local fishermen. Members of a preservation society hoped to save the tradition, all the more so because times have been tough for the fishermen since March 11. They, however, had no means to do so.
Then, Yukihiro Sato, 41, owner of a Sendai-based ad planning agency who was engaged in the rebuilding of the Kobuchihama community on a voluntary basis, offered to pitch in.
"I wish to help preserve a minor traditional performing art that lies outside the reach of administrative organizations," Sato said.
So, he helped kick off a lion dance resuscitation project in late May.
The Association for Corporate Support of the Arts, Japan, which draws on corporate and individual donations, set up a fund to assist rebuilding from the March 11 quake. The Nippon Foundation is also supporting folk performing arts, assisted by a 1.3 billion yen donation from the Nippon Music Foundation, which was raised on the sale of a Stradivarius violin. The Iwate Cultural Promotion Agency also provides a maximum 1 million yen to traditional performing art groups in the prefecture that sustained damage from the tsunami.
Sato, who studied various subsidy programs, obtained 1 million yen from the Nippon Foundation, 300,000 yen from the Association for Corporate Support of the Arts, and 500,000 yen from the Daiwa Securities Foundation. These contributions funded the manufacturing of a new lion's head in July.
For the most part, disaster survivors are too busy with reconstruction and trying to rebuild their lives to engage in fund-raising.
"I thought there should be a network for sharing knowledge (on fund-raising) among those who strive to preserve traditions," Sato said.
There are also moves to extend financial support to artists who lost their livelihoods in disaster-hit areas.
Art objects, CDs, tableware and other works were on sale in July in one corner of the basement at JR Hakata Station in Fukuoka in an event sponsored by Travel Front, a Fukuoka-based planning agency, called the "Tohoku Kyushu project."
The works of art, made by artists who lost their clientele to the March 11 disaster, were on sale alongside works by Kyushu-based artists. The project, which waived sales commissions, was aimed at encouraging new channels of cash flow through a tie-up between the Tohoku region and Kyushu. The agency plans to hold similar events in Nagasaki and elsewhere in autumn and later.
"Making profits is not our goal," said Yukiko Miyazaki, project manager. "Getting to know Tohoku people, with whom we had no connection before, is much more meaningful."
The Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra has lost many of its performing venues, because concert halls in the Tohoku district were damaged in the disaster. But classical music orchestras from Ishikawa, Niigata, Tokyo and other prefectures extended a helping hand. They invited the Sendai Philharmonic to hold concerts in their halls. They also solicited donations. The Sendai Philharmonic has received as much as 35 million yen in donations, including from overseas donors.
The philharmonic, which received support from many people and organizations, are trying, in turn, to encourage disaster survivors with music. They have given free concerts on street corners and at evacuation shelters in disaster-stricken areas.
"We have been able to get ourselves back on our feet by being encouraged by many and by encouraging disaster survivors ourselves," said Takao Osawa, executive director of the Sendai Philharmonic.
(This article was written by Harunori Maruyama, Hideki Inoue and Mariko Nakamura.)