The Tsukiyama Hanabo Odori (Flower Stick Dance) is a dance with an interesting history that evolved from secretive martial arts training. The roots of the dance reach back to the end of the Edo era when some samurai who had mastered the arts of self-defense at the Ogasawara School and the Shinkage School taught these skills, including ‘boujutsu’ - the art of fighting with a staff, to a local man named Ukita Matsushiro. In later years Matsushiro’s son, Ukitaro went on to teach these martial arts to three local farmers and this led to training in ‘boujutsu’ becoming widespread among the farmers in the community. However, at this time it was prohibited for farmers to learn martial arts. Therefore, in order to hide the fact they were training in a forbidden skill they attached colorful tassels to the ends of the staffs so that their ‘dance’ would appear simply as an artistic dance set to popular music.