National heritage since 1976: three days of dances rooted in a tax paid in the seventeenth century.
For three days, in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, Tarama Island comes to a halt for lion dances, stick dances and classical Ryukyuan theatre pieces, divided between the two villages of Nakasuji and Shiokawa. It is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, designated by the Japanese government in 1976.
In the seventeenth century the Ryūkyū Kingdom imposed a heavy tax on farmers aged 15–50 on the islands of Miyako and Yaeyama. Those who paid it off by lunar July reported it in August, in the two villages of 仲筋 (at the sacred site 土原ウガム) and 塩川 (at the sacred site ピィトゥマタウガム), praying together for the harvest of the coming year: over the centuries, today's festival grew out of this rite of accounting. On 4 May 1976 the Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁) designated it 重要無形民俗文化財 (Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property); its care is entrusted to the 多良間村民俗芸能保存会.
ℹ️ Three days, on the 8th–10th days of the 8th month of the lunar calendar (a date that changes every year): the first day in Nakasuji, the second in Shiokawa, the third with both villages together. The island can only be reached by plane or ferry from Miyako-jima; not a place you pass through by chance.
🚉 前泊港 (Maedomari-kō) · 15 min walk
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