A lone hayashi ensemble begins: a throaty hichiriki (oboe), a single taiko drum, and a small kane bell. The Daishi, resting on a shrine altar, is "awakened" by a priest. Two masked attendants—the Tengu (long-nosed goblin) and Okame (comic woman)—prance ahead, clearing the spiritual path.
The performer, hidden under a flowing white shroud that becomes the lion’s mane, emerges from beneath the head. He rises slowly, the wooden lion now seeming to "eat" his torso. The first jaw-snap echoes— KON! —and the crowd falls silent. The Daishi then performs the Furi-mawashi : a full-body rotation so violent and heavy that the performer’s feet leave deep prints in the dirt. Daishi Dance Spectacle Rar
| Location | Festival | Date | Unique Feature | |----------|----------|------|----------------| | | Mikagura Daishi Festival | Mid-August | Three Daishi lions dance simultaneously – the only such triple performance. | | Kazuno, Akita | Hanawa Bayashi | August 19–21 | Daishi dances at midnight by torchlight – the jaws glow with embedded brass. | | Ninohe, Iwate | Jōkan-ji Daishi | Early September | The oldest extant Daishi head (dated 1672), with teeth worn smooth from centuries of biting evil. | The Sound of Rarity No video recording fully captures the Daishi. To stand before it is to feel the ground shake with each stomp, to hear the dry thwack of centuries-old wood clashing, and to smell the dust and sweat rising from the performer’s shroud. When the lion turns its blank, glaring eyes toward you, clacks its jaws, and roars —actually roars through a hidden bamboo reed in its throat—you understand: this is not a dance. It is an exorcism. Preservation Efforts Since 2009, the Mikagura Daishi Dance has been designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. Yet designation does not guarantee survival. The Daishi Preservation Society now allows limited filming for academic archives and has begun 3D-scanning the antique lion heads. A single apprentice in Nishine, age 27, began training in 2022—the first new performer in 18 years. A lone hayashi ensemble begins: a throaty hichiriki
For now, the Daishi clacks on—a rare, furious heartbeat in Japan’s rural calendar. But like the lions it depicts, this spectacle is an endangered species. See it while its jaws still snap. The performer, hidden under a flowing white shroud
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Strengthen your defenses
Week 3: Analyzing endpoint behavior
Week 4: Access & identity controls
Week 5: Web filtering & application control
Week 6: Patching & backups
Week 7: Office 365 & cloud controls
Week 8: Harden your MAC environment
Week 9: Server hardening
Week 10: Security audits
Week 11: Incident response framework
Week 12: Policy hygiene & standardization
Week 13: File integrity & deception
Week 14: Configurations & compliance
Week 15: Series overview
There are 15 webinars, each approximately one hour long including an audience Q&A. If you put one webinar's recommendations per week, you will complete the series in approximately 100 days.
This series is for IT professionals ready to take control of their environment, whether you've just inherited one, are rebuilding from the ground up, or need to scale and secure what’s already in place.
No, you can implement the recommendations in all or only a few of the sessions, but we do recommend watching all of them in order, as we often build on the previous week's efforts.
No, the entire series, including the additional downloadable resources, is completely free.
Unfortunately, the badge was only available for people who attended the sessions live in May-August 2025.
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