KYOTO--A dance of white herons, discontinued in Kyoto during the Edo Period (1603-1867) but handed down in faraway Shimane Prefecture, was performed here to celebrate the 1,150th anniversary of the Gion Festival.

Two performers from the town of Tsuwano, spreading wings made of hinoki cypress, presented the traditional dance at Yasakajinja shrine in Kyoto on July 6.

According to Yasakajinja, the dance was performed during the Gion Festival's float processions in the years before the Onin War (1467-1477) but halted during the mid-Edo Period.

The dance is believed to have reached Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture, in 1542. It has been handed down at a shrine in the town and has been designated as an important intangible folk cultural property by the central government.