A UNESCO committee reviewing nominations for Intangible Cultural Heritage status has decided to add a rice-planting festival in Hiroshima Prefecture and a ritual dance performed at a shrine in Shimane Prefecture to the list, the Cultural Affairs Agency said.
Hiroshima's Mibu no Hana Taue harvest ritual and Shimane's Sada Shin Noh sacred music and dance will bring to 20 the number of Japanese cultural traditions on the list.
In the Hiroshima ritual, women in colorful dresses and large straw hats plant rice while singing songs accompanied by drums and whistles on the first Sunday of June every year.
Sada Shin Noh is performed every September at Sada Shrine in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture.
Japan nominated 11 cultural traditions, but the UNESCO intergovernmental committee decided Monday to reject four of them due to their similarities with items already on the list.
