Aikido Experience in Hiroshima- Feel the spirit of the ultimate martial art

Aikido Experience in Hiroshima- Feel the spirit of the ultimate martial art

・Experience Shishimai, Japanese traditional performance art.

・You will experience the most popular dance “Gokoku-hojo dance” (wishing huge harvest)

・Also practice various actions of a lion (Grooming, sleeping and eating)

・You can hold and wear a lion head mask used for festivals.

・We will give you a shishimai pick as a souvenir.

Itinerary

Experience shishimai, a lion dance performed during the festivals and events to bring good luck and drive away evil spirits. Dancing with a lion mask on your head is to purify yourself and drive away devils, prevent disasters and diseases. It is an ancient tradition in Japan practiced all over the country. In this lesson you will dance shishimai for the music of a good harvest. This tour will take about 90 min. English interpreter is included.

Meet at the Hiroshima Fashion College. Please come 15 min. before the start time.

Instructor will tell you about shishimai first. Then, he will perform “Gokoku-hojo dance”, a major dance celebrating a good harvest. The lesson starts with gentle stretch and then you will learn basic movements of shishimai. After you finish practicing the basic movements, you will try “Gokoku-hojo dance”. Then, you will practive various actions of a lion like grooming, sleeping and eating. A real lion head mask (shishigashira) made of wood is fragile, so we use training masks for the most part of our lesson. Of course, you can try to hold and wear a real mask.

Let's become a lion - a servant of God and drive away evils!