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Kagura Monzen Toji Mura

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

kaguraAkitakatamasked dancehot springfolk performance

Hiroshima · Akitakata

34.7152°N, 132.6125°E

Showing up to Kagura Monzen Toji Mura without a plan for where to stand is the most common way to see less of it than you wanted.

Kagura in northern Hiroshima is not a museum piece. Twenty-two amateur troupes in Akitakata alone perform it — masked dance-drama with drums and flute, telling the myths of the eight-headed serpent and the gods, in costumes weighing twenty kilograms — and they perform for their neighbours.

This village on a hill in Mitori was built to give them somewhere to do it every week. There is a 2,000-seat kagura dome and a smaller theatre, and between them they hold more than 150 performances a year, mostly at weekends. Around them is a lattice-fronted lane of inns, teahouses, food and souvenir shops, and a radon hot spring with an outdoor bath. Dome tickets are ¥1,200 for adults and ¥500 for children, and you can stay the night.

Before you go

Event hours

Performances on more than 150 days a year, mostly weekends | Hot spring and shops keep their own hours

Closed: No performances on many weekdays — confirm the schedule before travelling

Cost to attend

¥1,200 adults and ¥500 children for the Kagura Dome | 12-ticket book ¥11,000 | Hot spring charged separately

When it happens

Autumn and winter for the fullest kagura calendar | Weekends year-round

Time to allow

Half a day | An overnight stay with a performance

Access route

Getting there in detail

Mitori-cho Hongo 4627, Akitakata, on a hill in the north of the city. Car recommended. The 2,000-seat Kagura Dome and the Kamukuraza theatre stage more than 150 performances a year by 22 local troupes, mostly at weekends. Dome tickets ¥1,200 for adults and ¥500 for children, with a 12-ticket book at ¥11,000. The Iwatoya radon hot spring has a large bath, open-air bath, cascade bath, medicinal bubble bath, steam sauna, cold source bath and lying bath. Inns and lodging are on site. Phone; confirm the performance schedule before travelling.

Beyond the guidebook

**Check the schedule first.** More than 150 nights a year but not every night, and mostly weekends. The village is worth little without a performance. **Weekend evening in the dome is the full version.** 2,000 seats, drums, twenty-kilogram costumes and a serpent that takes several performers. The smaller theatre is more intimate and cheaper to fill. **These are amateur troupes.** Twenty-two of them, made up of local people who perform for their own communities. That is what makes northern Hiroshima kagura different from a staged folk show. **Stay the night.** There are inns on site and a radon hot spring. Performances end late and the drive back through the hills in the dark is not a pleasure. **Autumn and winter are the season.** Village shrine performances across Akitakata and Shobara run from autumn into winter, and the calendar here is fullest then.

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