The ``National Toramai Festival'' was held in Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture, where groups of ``Tora Mai'', a local performing art passed down along the Sanriku coast, gathered together.
This event is held every year to let people enjoy traditional tiger dances, and this year 11 groups from Iwate and Miyagi participated.
Among them, the ``Usumai Youth Association'' in Kamaishi City performed performances such as ``Yaguruma,'' in which a tiger plays in the spring sun.
During the Great East Japan Earthquake, the building where our activities were based was completely destroyed and we lost all of our tools, but two months later we borrowed tools from other organizations and displayed them at evacuation centers, becoming a driving force behind the recovery of the region.
In addition, at the Hiraiso Performing Arts Preservation Society in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture, a tiger appeared from the audience seats to the sound of children's powerful drums, and excited the audience by jumping up and down.
A woman from Kamaishi City said, ``I'm very happy to be able to see the tiger dance for the first time in a while.My one-year-old child never gets tired of watching it, waving his hands, and I hope that he will perform the tiger dance someday.'' I was talking.
Masato Ohara, chairman of the Unosumai Youth Association, said, ``We danced in the hope that we could be of some help to those who are feeling the same way as us, such as the Noto Peninsula earthquake.''