Sacred dance at Sensoji: the development of a tradition

Sensoji, one of the best-loved temples of Edo-Tokyo, was once the site of varied and colorful performances of sacred music and dance. In the past, kagura accompanied a New Year's ritual archery exhibit, while "lion dances" and a genre known as binzasara were seen at the time of the third-month Sanja festival. During the sixth month, binzasara and masked kagura were staged again, and during the nineteenth century a ninth-month "pheasant dance" was added to the annual program. This paper examines the emergence of such arts, some of which continue to be performed today. A close look at historical sources and modern practices reveals, however, that the genres, performance practices, contexts, and dates of performance underwent much transformation over the centuries. What is today billed as "tradition" turns out to reproduce only a fraction of what was once a far richer, heterogeneous, and changing program of dance and music. KEYWORDS: Sensoji--Sanja Gongen--Tamura Hachidayu--binzasara--kagura--Edo-period religion