The Calendar of 
MapJapan Heritage Yazu Town's Kirin Dance-Tottori Prefecture-
Farming and beautiful countryside scenery are what make up Yazu Town, home of the Saitai community and the 25 members of the Sawa Shrine Kirin Dance Preservation Association, all of whom are aged 35 to 58.
Ms. Hiromi Tanaka, the head of the association, has said: "We came close to closing up two years ago due to the aging population, but we pulled through and are still here." In 1998, the Kirin Dance was designated as a prefectural intangible folk-cultural property, the only one in Yazu Town.
The Kirin Dance of Inaba
The Sawa Shrine Kirin Dance Preservation Association
With locals refusing to let the beloved Kirin Dance disappear, they work together doing whatever they can to keep it alive.
One of the unique features of the Sawa Shrine Kirin Dance are the white paper streamers on the back of the Kirin, like those seen on top of Shinto priest staffs, and the dance's slow movements, an element borrowed from Noh theater.
Sawa Shrine's festivals are held twice a year in April and October, on the second Sunday in each month. There's a main dance held at the shrine for 30 minutes, followed by traveling around town and visiting all 72 homes, performing a three minute dance for each one.
For the traveling dance, in spring children carry portable shrines, and in autumn adults go around with leafy branches from sakaki trees — an evergreen tree considered sacred in Shintoism.
