More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan

  Yamata no Orochi is a mythical serpent with 8 heads that appears in the Izumo cycle of ancient Japanese myths set in the time before the d...

  Inada Shrine in what is now Yokota, Okuizumo, enshrines Kushinadahime, in English referred to as Princess Kushinada, or simply Kushinada. ...

Igatake Shrine Igatake Shrine is a fairly large shrine in the middle of Yokota, on the banks of the Hi River in the mountains of Okuizumo. I...

After the Orochi arrives they then do a series of synchronized movement. Audiences here kn0w very well when some kagura has been ...

Orochi Last night we went to Hamada to see the annual Orochi Spectacle. They close off the center crossroads in town and put on regular kag...

Around 2:30am the kagura group took a break, something I have never seen before. I suspect that as the village has shrunk, so has the ...

These are 2 of my versions of the Ashinazuchi mask. Ashinazuchi, most commonly translated as "foot stroking elder", was the husban...

This is an Iwami kagura mask of Susano. Sometimes spelt Susanoh, sometimes Susano-O, sometimes Susano o mikoto. Susano appears in several ka...

The population of the village has doubled in the past few days. This is O Bon, somewhat similar to the Mexican Day of the Dead, the time tha...

The story of Susano defeating the 8-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi is the most well known kagura dance in Iwami. In a regular performance, ...