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At the time of Haihan Chiken(Abolishing
(Ryukyu) Han and establishing (Okinawa) Ken), the royal entertainers
lost their status and become common people, some of whom put on performances
in a playhouse by themselves, but some of them moved to live in the
country. The entertainers who lived in the country taught their superb
Kumiodori, songs and dances to the villagers. What they taught has
been passed down to the people in the area. In the festival of the
village, the songs, dances and kumiodori are perfomed. Originally,
there were about two hundred forms of Kumiodori, but now only a few
are correctly performed. It is interesting to see that many Kumiodori
which were supposed to have disappeared with the abolishment of the
Ryukyu Kingdom Court are now performed in the open-air theaters of
the villages. The royal entertainments were originally formed in Shuri
by collecting and polishing the outstanding art of entertainment in
the country. They returned again to their home country. One of the
examples is that many "Adauchi mono"(Kumiodori revenge stories)have
been handed down from generation to generation in the northern part
of Okinawa island. And in Yaeyama, Taketomi, Tarama and Miyako island,
strong-tied youth associations with a sense of duty take over Kumiodori
as treasures of their villages. Some Okinawan operas have twenty musical
numbers in a single performance. Especially, many Yaeyama folk songs
and Amami folk songs are adapted to operas. It is supposed that in
the circumstances mentioned so far ;Shibai(plays) were spreaded throughout
the country and their legends were taken from the dramas.
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