This workshop teaches demon drumming (onidaiko), a performing art native to Sado Island. This year is the first ever Hamakawachi Onidaiko workshop at EC. This style of demon drumming features two people dancing dynamically to a lively taiko rhythm and flute melody. Come and move your body with all of your might and feel the joy that arises from deep within.

Introducing Hamakawachi Onidaiko

Instructor: Kawachi Wakate (Sado)

Every year on April 3, the young men of Sado’s Hamakawachi perform Onidaiko to usher in the spring-festival season on the island. Hamakawachi-style Onidaiko features two demons who dance to a taiko and flute accompaniment (the locals call this dancing “drumming”). It is called Maehama-ryu Onidaiko, and it is characterized by the roso, a guide for the demons who delivers a spoken message to each house that gives the dancers an offering. Leaving the shrine at 6:00 am, the demons and a lion dance team visit about thirty homes, performing door-to-door, returning to the shrine around 8:00 pm for the climax of the festival. At the finale, the scene of people calling out “Taisho, Taisho!” with their arms around each other’s shoulders as they cheer on the dancing demons is a warm reminder that spring has come.

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