Ayagasa Boko’s umbrella shape hearkens back to the festival’s earliest 9th-century days, when the floats started as different kinds of halberds, banners and other tall pole-type instruments that could be carried.
This float’s dynamic musical score features costumed members whirling and drumming simultaneously, a unique offering among the yamaboko. It’s derived from nenbutsu odori, a 10th-century ritualistic performance wherein the beat of drums and bells accompanied dancing and Buddhist mantra chanting.
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