Journeys for Knowledge

As mentioned in my last post, eisa is an important aspect of Okinawan culture. So much so that it has its own festival, the 10,000 Eisa Dancers Parade. The parade took place in the city of Naha, and is less of a full parade and more of a rotating show. Eisa groups from all over the island come to perform for the city, moving from station to station so that everyone has a chance to see every group. This was very similar to the dance festival I witnessed in Sapporo two years ago, at the end of my road trip there. Unlike Onna no Matsuri, the groups are not professionals, many are just local clubs or youth groups which organized into their own eisa group. This does not detract from the quality of their performance, in fact in some ways their more modern take on eisa was more approachable for outsiders. 

The new feature compared to last time that I was not expecting was the shisa dancers, two man teams running and rolling around to convey excited and playful shisa. After a while it was hard to remember that there were people inside this large furry animal, as it tried to swallow you whole. If the eisa performances at Onna no Matsuri were a testament to the pinnacle of eisa, then this parade was a celebration of its diversity. Though the art form may have arisen as a way to giving respect to the dead, it has now become a platform of expression for the living.