🏮 Tanigumi Odori

谷汲踊

Ibigawa, Gifu (Kegonji Temple) · Every year on 18 February

Traditional performing arts

157 days to go
Rooms around Ibigawa, Gifu fill up while the festival is on.

In Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture, the Tanigumi Odori (a harvest thanksgiving ritual) is held every year on February 18, centered on Tanigumisan Kegonji Temple. It is one of the drum dances passed down in the upper reaches of the Ibi River; the dancers wear matching garments and carry on their backs a large fan-shaped bamboo construction called a shinai, modeled on phoenix feathers, while they beat drums held against their chests as they dance. This festival has been handed down for over 800 years, and in the Edo period it was offered as a rain-making dance by farmers. Over time, it has been inherited as the harvest thanksgiving festival it is today. On the day, it is performed three times: at 11:00 in front of the former Meitetsu Tanigumi Station, at 13:00 at the Tanigumi Monzen parking lot, and at 14:00 in front of the Nio Gate of Tanigumisan Kegonji Temple. The sounds of the shinai and drums carry on to this day a traditional dance praying for the arrival of spring and a bountiful harvest of the five grains.

Getting there

From JR Ogaki Station, take the Tarumi Railway to Tanigumiguchi Station, then the Ibigawa Town Hanamomo Fureai Bus (about 10 minutes) to the Tanigumisan stop, immediately alighting there.