Photos: ccfarmer · CC BY 3.0 (1, 2) · Deepsky-kenta · CC BY-SA 4.0 (3, 4, 5)
Mibu Kyōgen is wordless masked Buddhist theatre performed at Mibu-dera since about 1300: all 30 plays are mimed to gong, drum and flute. It was Kyoto Prefecture's first national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (1976). Each spring performance day opens with Hōraku-wari, in which a tower of clay plates inscribed by the public at Setsubun is pushed off the stage and smashed.
Why it's unique
The silent form and the 1856 stage machinery are singular. The plays are performed by about 35 local amateurs, from primary-school age to their seventies, and locals call it "Mibu-san no kandenden" after the sound of the music.
You can take part, not only watch: buy a clay plate at Setsubun, write your age and wish on it, and come back in spring to see it smashed off the stage. In one play, rice crackers are thrown into the audience.
Before you go
To have your own plate smashed, buy a hōraku at Setsubun (2 to 3 February), write your age and wish on it, and come back in spring. In Atago-mairi rice crackers are thrown into the audience, and catching one is said to ward off misfortune. The autumn run is 10 to 12 October 2026.
Spring runs 29 April to 5 May and autumn on the Sports Day long weekend, 13:00 to 17:30, ¥1,000 adults, same-day unreserved seating. Setsubun shows are free.
