This time, the Hakata Hitoka Promotion Association will deliver “Hakata Niwaka of This week!” We hope that you will enjoy Hakata’s folk performing arts as much as possible.

“Hakata Niwaka” is a folk performing art, which has a long history and tradition and has been designated as an intangible folk cultural property by Fukuoka City.

Those who play Hakata Hitoka wear a Niwaka mask, talk in Hakata dialect and end the story with a witty punch line. Some plays are reflections of everyday life and society, and some are wrapped in warm humor.

The Niwaka mask is a familiar mask in “Niwaka Senpei”, so many people might have seen it.

This folk performing art is not well known, but it is really interesting when you actually see it. We want many people to experience Hakata Hitoka, thus we upload a video of the actual Hakata Niwaka every week (it may be irregular due to various reasons).

Distribution started in April 2020, and currently, 28 videos have been released. (As of February 8, 2021)

We can’t introduce all of them here, but we will introduce the memorable first video and three punch lines that will make 2021 a good year.

Vol.22. “Hakata Dialect”

Vol.22. “Wish of good luck”

Vol.23. “Outfit”

Vol.25 “New Year’s fortune-telling”

How do you like it? In addition to this, the videos posted in the past are archived as back numbers below, so please have a look.

“Hakata Niwaka of This Week!” Click here for back numbers

We will continue to upload new works almost once a week, so be sure to subscribe to our channel and don’t miss it!

Moreover, in the summary column of each video, we also introduce the points you want to pay attention to at that time and small tips for Hakata Niwaka, so please have a look.

We hope that the weekly “Hakata Niwaka of the Week” will give you a bit of joy in your daily life.

● What is Hakata Niwaka?

Hakata Niwaka has been designated as Fukuoka City’s Intangible Folk Cultural Property (No. 99).

It is said that there are about 60 remaining Niwaka in Japan. In other regions, Niwaka is played by a few people. The common idea is to use the local language, take in things that are closely related to the social situation, satire, and life, and finally drop them with Jiguchi (word matching). It’s not a pun or a dad joke.

After World War II, “Hitokuchi Niwaka“, which is performed by one person in Hakata, became popular and is now the mainstream of Hakata. On top of this, “Kakeai Niwaka“, which is played by two people, is also crowd-pleasing.

In terms of time, Hitokuchi Niwaka is about 5 to 60 seconds, Kakeai Niwaka is about 10 seconds to 5 minutes, and Danmono Niwaka is about 10 to 30 minutes

[Type of Hakata Hitoka]
・ Hitokuchi Niwaka is performed by one person.
・ Kakeai Niwaka is performed by two people.
・ Sokuseki Niwaka is performed with a theme.
・ Danmono Niwaka is performed in a play format.

Hakata is the only place in Japan where performers wear a Niwaka mask. In addition, with the development of Hitokuchi Niwaka, one of the characteristics of Hakata Niwaka is that performers are suddenly given a topic and make an impromptu story.