Osugi's Zanzako Dance

A Dance Born from Prayer Against a Plague

Local tradition traces the origin of Osugi no Zanzako Odori to the year Keian 2 (1649), when a disease known as kagami swept through the Tajima region. Distraught at the suffering of his people, the village headman (shoya) of Osugi made a pilgrimage to the great shrines of Ise, praying for the sickness to be lifted. On his way home, passing through Nara, he is said to have learned a sacred drum-dance at Kasuga Taisha—the ancient shrine of the Fujiwara clan—and brought it back to his village.

When the dance was first offered at Ninomiya Shrine on the sixteenth day of the old seventh month, the villagers' suffering is said to have gradually subsided, and the tradition took root as an annual offering of thanks and protection. Whether history unfolded exactly as the legend says is less important than what the story reveals: for the people of Osugi, this dance has always been a prayer woven into the rhythm of the drum.

Why It Was Recognised as a National Cultural Treasure

On November 5, 1973, the Japanese government selected Osugi no Zanzako Odori as an intangible folk cultural property for which measures should be taken to create official records—a national recognition reserved for folk performances of outstanding regional distinctiveness. The Agency for Cultural Affairs specifically noted the dance as "an exemplar of one form of the taiko odori drum-dance tradition, with markedly pronounced regional characteristics."

Three features in particular drew the experts' attention. First, the dance preserves the classic structure of medieval furyu ritual dancing—a commanding leader, a small core of central dancers, and a large ring of side dancers drawn from every household in the village. Second, its costumes and musical accompaniment survive in a form remarkably close to their Edo-period appearance. And third, the haunting red shakuma headdress—rarely seen in other surviving drum dances—gives Osugi's performance a distinctive visual language that exists almost nowhere else in Japan.

Highlights of the Dance

Visiting Osugi

The dance is offered at Ninomiya Shrine in the village of Osugi, Oya-cho, Yabu City, beginning at around 1:30 p.m. on August 16th each year. Admission is free, and visitors are welcome to watch from the shrine precincts. The performance lasts roughly an hour and is often followed by the nearby Wakasu Zanzaka Odori, a related but distinct prefecturally designated dance held at Mihashira Shrine in the next valley beginning at 2:00 p.m.—making it possible to see both traditions in a single afternoon.

Osugi itself sits deep in a valley of the Oya River, reached by car in roughly twenty minutes from the Yabu Interchange on the Kita-Kinki Toyooka Expressway. Visitors arriving by train can use JR Yoka Station on the San'in Main Line and continue by local bus or taxi. Because the village is small and the festival draws crowds from across the region, arriving well before the start time is advisable, and comfortable footwear is essential for the uneven shrine grounds.

What to See Nearby

The village of Osugi is itself a rare cultural treasure. In 2017 it was designated as a nationally Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, recognized as one of Japan's foremost surviving sericulture villages. Twelve imposing three-story silk-worm houses—built between the late Edo period and the early Showa era—still line its narrow lanes, their high walls, tiled gables, and ventilation vents testifying to a once-thriving industry in silk. Wandering these streets before or after the festival is like stepping into the pages of a rural history book.

Several of the traditional houses have been carefully restored and opened to visitors. Furusato Koryu no Ie "Irori" offers overnight stays in a converted sericulture farmhouse, while nearby galleries and wood-carving exhibits showcase the living craft traditions of the area. Further afield, Mount Hyonosan—Hyogo's highest peak—rises to the south-west, offering hiking and, in winter, skiing. The hot springs of Yoka and the historic silver-mining sites of the "Silver Horse-Cart Road and Ore Road" Japan Heritage corridor are all within a short drive.