Isobe-no-Omita

Marking the arrival of spring, Isobe-no-Miya Otaue Matsuri, one of the three rice planting Shinto rituals in Japan, is said to come from a legend that a shiro-manazuru (white-necked crane) dropped an ear of rice. Shinto rituals such as dynamic Taketori-shinji in which valiant men fight over an Imidake with a big Uchiwa fan in a muddy rice field, and static Otaue-shinji in which Saotome clad in shite kimono with a red sash across their chest plant rice with solemnity are conducted in accompaniment to drums played by people in traditional style costumes and to Dengaku performed by Sasara (a traditional Japanese percussion instrument) players followed by the Odorikomi dancing procession to 'Ichi no torii', the first of the Torii (Shrine gate).