Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties of Iwate

An Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of coastal Iwate: a kagura troupe carries sacred lion heads from home to home each winter, dancing prayers by day.

Held only in the year after a lunar leap year, the Matsuriba Ritual of Murone Shrine Festival in Ichinoseki City, Iwate, dates back over 1,300 years to the enshrinement of the Kumano deity in 718. Designated a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property for its dramatic mikoshi race and unique hereditary jinyaku role system, this is one of the Three Wild Festivals of Oshu. The next celebration is scheduled for October 2026.

Yamaya no Taueodori is a four-hour winter rice-planting dance performed each January in a remote mountain hamlet of central Iwate Prefecture. A vivid example of the indoor parlour-style dance tradition of northern Japan, it dramatises the entire annual cycle of rice cultivation and traces its origins to the twelfth-century Hiraizumi Fujiwara culture. Designated a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1981, it preserves the famed spinning flower hats that define the central Iwate style.

Iwate’s registered properties across designations, with featured heritage and travel notes.

The complete kokuhō catalogue — browse by prefecture, period, and category.

Nationwide jūyō bunkazai — architecture, sculpture, painting, crafts, and documents.