Black Lion Up close

Black Lion festival of Nagai city. This is an annual festival that takes place in Nagai (Yamagata prefecture, Japan) in which a series of Black Lions (dragons) perform a ritual dance through the streets before being ceremonially guided to one of the local shrines. The dragons represent the spirit of the local Mogami and other rivers. By guiding their fretful spirits to the shrines, the priests symbolically contain the wrath of the rivers for another year (until, at the time of the next festival, they "break free" once again). The festivals are held yearly, around the same time that the rice fields are filled with water.