Kids perform kabuki on floats at traditional west Japan festival
April 16, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
Children perform kabuki during the Nagahama Hikiyama Festival in the city of Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, on April 15, 2021. (Mainichi/Ryoichi Mochizuki) NAGAHAMA, Shiga Local children in this west Japan city put on a kabuki performance as part of an annual traditional festival on April 15. The Nagahama Hikiyama Festival, which was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, went ahead this year at a reduced scale. Ordinarily, the children s kabuki performances are shown on the grounds of Nagahama Hachimangu shrine, but to avoid crowding this year they were performed on stages installed on three community Hikiyama floats. Blessed with fine weather, the young cast wore colorful costumes and performed like adults would on the glittering Hikiyama stage to raucous applause from the audience.