Da-hua-gu is a distinctive dance which has been preserved by the people of Iju, Nakagusuku village of Okinawa Island, Japan. It is distinctive of its evident Chinese influence in Okinawa Islands. Eleven men in Chinese dress appear on to the stage in a line and march slowly around the stage, as the introduction of Da-hua-ku song is played. In the middle of the song three dancers playing a drum, cymbal and clapper leave out the line, and dace comically while playing each instrument. The rest of the dancers continue their march. When the song comes near to the end, the procession begins to exit. The last line of the song is repeated many times and the tempo gradually accelerates. The three dancers roll up their climax by jumping or stooping or passing each other busily. At the end, each dancer plays his instrument alternately at intervals, and gradually exits facing backward.
Da-hua-gu of Iju is merely a dance tradition. However, its origin seems to be traced as a dance drama. Da-hua-gu used to be performed by the people of Kuninda village who emigrated from Min-nan area of Fukien, China. Since the abolition of Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879, the people of Kuninda village stopped their performance of Da-hua-gu. We do not know in what root it was transmitted to Iju.
Historical documents also inform us that Da-hua-gu was preformed by the royal artists of Ryukyu Kingdom in Edo (present Tokyo) when kings customarily visited Edo to greet Tokugawa Shoguns in the occasion of succession of their Shogunate as well as in the occasion of succession of Ryukyu kingship.
When we compare the documents of Okinawa Da-hua-gu to those of the original play of Chinese Da-hua-gu performed in Ch'ing dyansty (17-20th centuries), some similarities in number and type of characters and in the content of the play are found. The story of the dancing drama in China is as follows. A noble man goes to the town to kill his time and meets a couple who are entertaining with “hua-gu” drum. He is attracted by the beautiful young wife of the hua-gu player and acts disgrace to her. The characters of this play are four including the couple. This Chinese dancing drama quite differs from Okinawa Da-hua-gu dance of Iju, which presents a mere dancing proccession.
The present paper also introduces the song text of Iju Da-hua-gu, that has been orally transmitted. The people of Iju does not understand the meaning of the text. The original poem of the “hua-gu” song sung in the Chinese play of Da-hua-gu is shown for the interpretation of the text of the Okinawa Da-hua-gu.