Traditions: Shinto Dance

In the late spring of a previous year, I spent the better part of a day out at a small Shinto shrine in rural Chiba Prefecture working on another addition to my personal project. Once again I was photographing people involved a certain cultural and traditional aspects of Japan. 

On this occasion I was photographing two women who had previously worked at Shinto shrines as miko. Miko, or shrine maidens, as they are called in English, fulfill a number of roles and responsibilities at the larger shrines that employ them…