The door of the Kagura hall at Otori Shrine was open, and a kagura dedication was being performed

I usually pass by the shrines in the immediate vicinity and pay no attention to them, but when a festival is being held, it is a different story. The grounds of shrines that I would normally pass by look radiant on festival days. The Ootori Jinja Shrine in Meguro, which I passed by that day, looked shining because there were many stalls in the narrow precincts. It was a festival. I had already stepped into the shrine grounds when I thought so.

I was not the only one who was attracted to the shrine grounds lined with stalls. Many people were moving in front of the stalls. The interesting thing is that many of the stalls could not fit inside the precincts of the shrine because of its small size. Those that could not fit inside the precincts set up their stalls on the sidewalks of Meguro-dori. As I looked at the stalls one by one, I found myself outside the precincts of the shrine. The stalls started at the intersection of Yamate-dori and Meguro-dori and continued until they reached the Meguro Parasitological Museum.

After checking out all of the food stalls on the sidewalk, I returned to the precincts of the shrine to get settled in and noticed that the door to the Kaguraden, which is usually closed, was open and there were people on the stage. I was too distracted by the food sold at the stalls to notice, but it turned out that a kagura dedication was being performed. This kagura is called "sword dance," and is said to honor the deity Yamato Takeru. It is performed during a festival in front of the gods, and although it is said to be different from the sato kagura (village kagura) with Hyottoko and Okame, I could not tell the difference. The little girl in front of me must not have understood either.