Kumi odori was officially added to the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010, six years after the National Theatre in Okinawa had been built for its performances.  As a folk art, it has branched out from its original group of participants; at its inception, as Tamagusuku Chokun was a member of the aristocratic court, kumi odori actors were comprised from the court nobility, all male.  However, as the Ryuku court system disintegrated in the 19^th century, the lower working classes took up kumi odori, using it to tell tales of local valor specific to villages.  

(Image 19) 

On the surface kumi odori might be considered to be that of the material folk genre as it can be seen, heard, and its physical costumes developed through bingata (a folk art in its own right), are eye-catching in their bright colors and complex patterns.  However, as the heart of kumi odori lies in the auditory rhythms of its singing and the significance of the native Ryukyuan language being spoken, kumi odori could be argued to exist primarily in the verbal folklore genre.  It involves words set to music, and its dancing and story lines are told in a chronological form (Sims & Stephens 2011:11).  It exists to preserve the native Ryukyuan culture, but more importantly, to save the language itself. 

(Image 20)

Today, kumi odori actors are trained through a program at the National Theatre Okinawa and can begin as young as four years old as in the case of Michihiko Kakazu, the artistic director of planning and chief of the production department at the National Theatre.  To him, being younger (in his thirties) than the previous masters of kumi odori who had instructed him throughout their elderly years, gives him a responsibility to pass down kumi odori to younger generations to help preserve the traditions for years to come (“Japan Foundation” 2014:2).   In regard to the language, there are particular expressions found only in kumi odori that cannot be translated to modern Japanese, placing an additional sense of urgency in preserving kumi odori as a medium for native Ryukyuan so that these language aspects are not lost.

(Michihiko Kakazu, image 21)