[Three-day / Two-night] Enjoy Ogi Port Matsuri! Be a Part of the Ogi Okesa Circle

Passed down for generations on the island, Ogi Okesa is the original folk song on which the famous Sado Okesa is based. During the Edo period (circa 1600 to the mid 1800s), the town of Ogi flourished as a trade port where Kitamaebune ships that sailed the Japan Sea stopped in great numbers to load and unload both cargo and culture. The Ogi Okesa is thought to have evolved from Kyushu’s Hanya-bushi brought to Sado during that time and adapted by local Ogi geisha into a zashiki dance. Come join in and enjoy a special session of dance that you can only experience on Sado.

Feel free to follow along and join in the circle dancing!

The Harbour Market is a marketplace where people naturally have the opportunity to mingle and exchange. For the first time this year the market will collaborate with the mobile outdoor art project Cinema Caravan, and have a new look. More details coming soon!

Come to Ogi’s performance hall, known for its “Speaking Arts of Essa” that features vaudevillian and folk entertainers from Sado and beyond, including gozeuta (female shamisen player and singer), kodan story-telling, and rokyoku narrative singing, come experience the history and present of the speaking arts of Essa.Date

Ogi Minato Matsuri originated from the ritual to offer rice to Kisaki Shrine to pray for the safety of vessels when Ogi was a port to ship gold and silver. Many groups go around the streets from door to door performing ritual entertainment; Kojishimai (the deer dance); Ojishimai (the big lion dance); Ondeko (demon drumming); Shukunegi Chitochinton (a phallic dance); Uwano Daidaikagura (a type of traditional dance performance using props), and so on. The festival also features Ogi Okesa (a folk song and dance) and Yosakoi (another folk song and dance). Ogi Minato Matsuri is very well known for its firework display on the first day, that includes enormous fireworks.