Hijiyamakōen

A local troupe of performers came out from Hiroshima and presented their local adaptation of a historical play. Quite similar to the ancient Japanese Noh theater, their dance tells the story of a young warrior who encounters a couple with a beautiful daughter. They tell him that they have had seven previous daughters. There are also eight fearsome huge serpents in the neighborhood. Each daughter was eaten by one of the snakes, and now they fear that their only living daughter, the most beautiful, will be eaten by the king of the snakes. If the young warrior can kill the snakes, her parents tell him, he can marry their daughter.

There follows a colorful, thirty-minute show of the most meticulous choreography I have ever seen. The energetic dance is such that the warrior’s sword is repeatedly at the precise location of the dragon’s neck, even though the creature’s operator is inside the costume and can hardly see the warrior. With all the writhing, spinning and dancing, the color and motion of the performance is mesmerizing.

I won’t reveal the outcome of the story. You’ll have to see it for yourself. I hope you can take this Viking cruise soon. You’ll see things you will never forget.Read more