culture – ugh

I was so sure this had to be an anime cosplay thing because of the pentacle, but no, this is an actual traditional dance in the city of Dazaifu. The pentacle actually has a long history in Japan, where it’s called the gobousei. I had no idea!

Original tweet:

よさこいチーム太宰府まほろば衆の「式鬼」がありえないくらいカッコイイのでめちゃめちゃ好きです

Translation (apologies in advance for errors – this involves traditional spirituality I don’t know a lot about, but I figure it’s better than people seeing this image with no context):

This yosakai dance team from the spiritual center of Dazaifu performing “shiki” (oni ritual?) is so impossibly cool, I love it so much