The Red-Crowned Cranes - Wow! Get ready! Look Up!

Also during this segment of the tour, my participants and I will be visiting the First Nation’s people of Japan, the Ainu’s Kotan, or settlement.  While we are visiting, we will be allowed an audience for many of the Ainu’s cultural performances.  The Ainu express their appreciation for the natural world with dance, and there is a specific ceremonial dance called the Sarorun Rimse (Crane Dance), imitating the dances of the Red-crowned crane, but each dance has a slightly different performance or choreography depending on the dancers.  The dances are a Nationally Designated Important Intangible Folk Culture Asset, registered with UNESCO.  World Intangible Heritage People have always danced and sang, whether for ceremonies, when family and friends gathered, or just during their daily work and lives.  The ancient ceremonial dances of the Ainu express happiness and sadness, and are performed not merely for entertainment but to show respect and gratitude to the kamuy (gods and spirits) and their ancestors, and the dances connect them to Arctic cultures in Russia, North America, and around the world.  The dances of the Ainu were born from coexisting in the natural world and represents sentient beings such as brown bears, birds, specifically The Blakiston Fish Owl, the Red-Crowned Cranes and all wildlife, insects, and even under and including the sun, moon, stars, and sky.  The Ainu philosophy is that we are all traveling through the universe and striving for a natural equilibrium.  Before the performances begin, I hand out literature and give a little advice to our participants to help focus their minds and focus so they can have some understanding of the performances and dances represent, so they can appreciate the meaningfulness of dances such as the Sarorun Rimse.  Ainu dances include large group ring dances, small group dances to offer prayers to the spirits, dances to show gratitude for successful fishing and harvests, dances to drive away evil spirits and sickness, and each dance serves a specific purpose depending on the kamuy or spirit that is being praised.  After about a 30 minute performance, my participants and I go outside to witness the Iomante Fire Festival and each evening there are fireworks in February.