The Enshu Dainenbutsu is a regional performing art of the Enshu region. At the request of households celebrating their first Bon Festival after a family death, a group will visit the home and perform the dainenbutsu, a Buddhist prayer, outside.
The dainenbutsu group must line up in front of the house, the leader at the helm with a paper lantern, and march in rhythm to the flutes, taiko drums, and gongs. In total, there are over 30 people in the group playing the flute, taiko, gong, and various other roles.
The group will enter the garden in a line for the memorial service, placing soban gongs at both sides with the taiko drum in the center, and chant the prayer and utamakura (poetic words) in unison with a chorus leader. The taiko drum will be struck like a rousing dance and the first Bon memorial service is performed.
Dainenbutsu services were performed at 280 villages during its most prosperous era during the Edo Period.
Currently, 70 groups are active members of the Enshu Dainenbutsu Preservation Association.
Even now, the Enshu Dainenbutsu takes place annually on July 15 in Saigagake in honor of the people that died during the Battle of Mikatagahara.