【National Designation：Intangible Folk Culture Property】Kuicha Dance of Miyako

The Kuicha of Miyako is a group dance that has been passed on down the generations in various areas of the Miyako Islands. The people lively dance the Kuicha in the various communities for harvest festivals, rituals in prayer for rain, as well as for entertainment and fun throughout the year.
The Kuicha is usually danced outdoors by men and women singing and dancing in a circle. They sing together and create a circle, swinging their arms back and forth, side to side, and repeat their steps and jumps, clapping their hands in between the moves to keep their rhythm. The accompanying songs are diverse in detail, singing in prayer for fertility or rain, love songs, joys in life and work as well as about hardships.
The Kuicha dance of Miyako is deeply connected to the lives and beliefs of the people here as it gets inherited by the younger generations. It shows us the fundamental nature of performing arts and its songs and dance are unlike any other, presenting a unique art of the region.