The November 4th edition of Jinja Shinpō had an article about a tradition of sacred dance at two jinja in Gifu Prefecture, Hakusan Jinja and Matusno’o Hakusan Jinja. Looking at the maps, these jinja seem to be in a very rural area, in a mountain valley. The sacred dance is called “Sugōjishi”, because the area is called “Sugō” and it is a form of Shishi dance, in which the dancers “dress” as “lions”. The scare quotes are because the shishi do not look much like lions, and the costumes are generally (and in this case), a lacquered head with articulated jaws and a (dyed) sheet that covers the dancer’s body. The Shishi dance tradition is extremely widespread across Japan, but every local version is different.
According to the article, the Sugōjishi is said to have been created at the very beginning of the eighth century (between 701 and 704 — the Taihō era) by the son of a Buddhist monk from the Korean Peninsula. It was passed down in a group called the “Wakasha” (“Youth Group”, roughly), which was officially for local residents 35 and under. However, depopulation had reduced the number of members to nine, most of whom travelled from elsewhere to practice and participate, and who had an average age of 48. Sugōjishi was a particularly athletic tradition, and it was becoming physically impossible for the Wakasha to keep it up. Thus, the decision was taken to dissolve the Wakasha after last year’s performances, at the main annual matsuri of the jinja on September 5th, and stop offering the dances.
However, some people did not want to let the tradition die, and formed a group called the “Wakasha Yūshi”, which roughly means “Youth Group Volunteers” (not that I imagine they were paid before — although I suppose it might have been compulsory).
In October last year, the new chief priest took over from her father, and the Wakasha Yūshi decided to offer part of the dance to celebrate that. As a result, one of the three traditional dances was offered at the main matsuri this year as well.
From the article, it sounds as though it was one dance at one jinja, rather than three dances at both of two jinja, so this is a serious reduction in scale. On the other hand, it does mean that the tradition is not dead, and could be scaled up if the population of the area started to increase again.
This sort of strong commitment to preserving local traditions is not uncommon in Japan, but it is also important to remember that cases in which these sorts of traditions quietly die out do not tend to get reported. The massive changes in Japan’s population distribution (grossly simplifying: no-one is having babies and everyone is moving to Tokyo) are having bad effects on a lot of local traditions, as well as local economies and communities more generally. As a result, the government is, in theory, committed to reversing them. Nothing they have tried yet has had much visible effect, however.