Shōdan in Okina

Okina Prayer

An arhythmic prayer performed in sashinori or in a combination of sashinori and einori styles, and sung in the tsuyogin style. While Okina’s first prayer celebrates the deities, the second refers to a song, Manzairaku, whose title comes from a crane uttering the celebratory word manzai, meaning “ten thousand years,” and to a tortoise’s backbone, which symbolizes the completeness of the universe: Heaven, Earth, and Man.

Prayer-1

Prayer-2