Frog Dance Festival Honors Harvest at Tamba-Sasayama Shrine

The traditional "Frog Dance" (Kaeru Odori) was dedicated at Sumiyoshi Shrine in Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, on the night of October 3rd, offering gratitude for the harvest to the gods. The dance is a prefecturally designated intangible folk cultural asset and one of the city's three major festivals. Members of the preservation society performed two pieces for about an hour, using unique calls and drums to depict rice harvesting and threshing scenes. The name "Frog Dance" comes from the performers' hopping movements and the call "Kaero, Kaero" during transitions. The dance is held on the eve of the Hachiman Festival, which takes place on the first Sunday of October.