This Remote Japanese Town is RICH in Tradition! | Inside the Art of Iwami Kagura🐉👹
Today, Leina travels to Hamada City in Shimane Prefecture’s Iwami Region. This place is home to Iwami Kagura — a centuries-old Japanese performance art that is kept alive by dedicated locals whose families have passed down essential skills for generations, even despite Shimane currently being the second least populous prefecture in Japan.
With its rich history, upbeat music and dance, vibrantly intricate costumes, and enchanting storytelling, Iwami Kagura is a must-experience for anyone interested in Japanese culture. And of course, being Japan by Food, Leina also showcases some of the locals’ favorite and most famous foods.
NOTE: The workshop visits and bento featured in this episode are part of a premium tour and performance package offered locally. Weekend nigh Iwami Kagura shows are performed fairly regularly in Hamada, however the bento is offered only in the premium package.
Interested in visiting Shimane Prefecture? Explore food and activities located in Shimane with byFood via the links below:
Temple Walk & Buddhist Cuisine Experience: https://bit.ly/4hK4LZh
Book restaurants in Shimane Prefecture – No Japanese needed! https://bit.ly/3DTRSOw
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*FEATURED FOODS*
Blackthroat Seaperch Torched Rice Bowl （のどぐろ炙り丼）
Orochi Bento （大蛇弁当）
*TIMELINE*
00:00 Introduction to this Seaside Town
01:11 First Stop: The Local Fish Market
04:36 About Iwami Kagura
05:18 2nd Generation Mask Artisan
08:28 A Young Costume Artisan
11:08 A 91-year-old Snake Barrel Artisan
13:58 SHOW TIME
15:35 Inside the Premium Orochi Bento
17:59 Interviewing a Performer
20:56 Final thoughts!
17 Comments
great job Leina! i love the masks!
This is the Japan I fell in love with growing up. Non big city, crowded Japan. Love it!
Shimane is a treasure – this was great
3 baes on this channel 🔥 ❤
I love Leina ❤. She is so genuine. When she had such joyous emotion that she wanted to cry, it was really special.
Thank you so much for posting!
I've never been to Hamada-city, so I want to go to there after watching this post!
It's so wonderful to see how empathetic Leina is to the passion and dedication that the artisans and performers have put into their respective crafts. I'm always looking forward to watching videos of places such as Hamada which have their own unique contributions of food and culture to the beauty of Japan. Well done Leina! 👏💚
THANK YOU, JBF TEAM and EVERYONE IN HAMADA! Hamada City and the beautiful locals have truly stolen my heart!!❤ Every person I met radiated warmth and so much love for their city and the beautiful art of Iwami Kagura and I am incredibly honored to have had the chance to visit and share a glimpse of the rich tradition and culture here with all of you. ☺ Hope you get to experience this beautiful tradition soon.. Thank you so much for watching! With love, Leina 🩷
LEINAAAAAAA
Excellent production ☺ Thank You!
Great video lots to see
Leina great to see you again!
I'm Japanese 🇯🇵 👸🏻🌸living in Germany 🇩🇪 thank you so much for the very interesting and wonderful vlog🫶🫶😆 Japan has some very beautiful places and traditions in the countryside, but they are not well known, so I truly believe that videos like this one are wonderful for the revival of the countryside. I really enjoyed this video!😉🥳🥳🥳💯💯💯👏❤️💫👯♀️
This was such an interesting video. I always enjoy learning about new areas in Japan and their traditions. Thank you.
All the traditional skills are so interesting. Great presentation!
not shizuka not interested
Amazing that people can be around all those dead and dying animals and act like it's nothing. No sympathy or empathy, the very definition of a psychopath