The last child kabuki artist in Damine village.

Six-year-old Mao Takeshita, dressed in a heavy kimono, her face painted with a thick layer of white kabuki powder, stands before hundreds of spectators seated on tatami mats. She steps forward, under the spotlight, and begins a dance, then introduces herself in the unique style of a traditional kabuki play.

Her arrival opened the play, and Mao began performing alone. As the new school year began, she was the only first-grade student at Damine Elementary School, a mountain village in central Japan. At school, she participated in a children's kabuki theater group. And Mao may well be the last child actress of the traditional kabuki theater art in this remote mountain village.

Each year, students here spend months preparing for their roles in an elaborate play staged by the villagers to honor the Bodhisattva Kannon. The people of Damine are wholeheartedly dedicated to the performance, often constructing a makeshift stage out of bamboo. This enthusiasm has helped keep Damine Elementary School afloat while many other schools across rural Japan have closed due to a lack of children.

As Damine, like many other Japanese villages, faces an aging population and migration to larger cities, this ritual, which has existed for dozens of generations, may one day disappear. But for now, that's not the time.

The performance is held every February. Children eagerly get dressed up backstage, then glide through the hanamichi (flower arrangement) and dramatically appear on stage, stomping their feet and brandishing swords. The crowd cheers, throwing packets of coins onto a metal tray on the stage. The choral singing, accompanied by the samjo (a type of stringed instrument), moves the audience, warming the chilly atmosphere of a rural Japan far removed from the bustling streets of modern Tokyo or Osaka.

The elaborate rehearsals for the performance took place inside the school—a single, old-fashioned wooden building containing three classrooms, a library, and a small auditorium where the students gathered for vocal practice and lunch. The photographs hanging along the school corridors were of graduating classes from over 100 years ago. It was a story of the decline of a tradition, beginning with solemn black-and-white images of groups of students in kimonos and ending with color photographs of a few children in stiff Western attire, dwarfed by a much larger group of teachers.

The Damine Festival, in some respects a "living fossil," originated over 370 years ago, during the period when Japan was under the harsh rule of the Shogunate. It is one of the few performances still held on a makeshift outdoor stage. Kabuki performances have been a tradition in the Chubu region of central Japan, an area not only geographically important but also steeped in history. The feudal lords who sought to unify the country in the late 16th century all hailed from this region.

The residents of Damine say their festival began with a miracle. The story goes that one summer, a group of people entered the shogun's forest and stole some wood to rebuild the temple. This was a grave crime. When the shogun sent investigators, the villagers prayed to Kannon for salvation, vowing that as long as three families remained in Damine village, they would hold a festival to honor Kannon every year. Later, an unusual snowstorm prevented the investigators from entering the village, and since then, the villagers have held a kabuki performance every year, even during World War II.

Now, the task of teaching young children to perform kabuki falls to 82-year-old Suzume Ichikawa and several former members of the theater. As a young woman, Ichikawa joined a performing arts troupe that toured the country. Decades later, she continues to teach students to sing and dance the dances that have become one of Japan's most famous traditions.

Ms. Ichikawa believes that the kabuki dance performance at the Damine Festival is the oldest in the region. But she doesn't know how much longer it can last: not only the children, but also the teachers are gradually disappearing. When Ms. Ichikawa also passes away, she doesn't know who will replace her. Now there's no one left who is wholeheartedly dedicated to kabuki, she says. The children, if any remain, will probably have to learn kabuki by watching videos.

Although the festival has remained unchanged over the years, the village of Damine and the town of Shitara have changed considerably. Many of the old-fashioned Japanese inns lining the main streets have ceased operation. Previously, a railway line ran along the riverbank and through the mountains, used by loggers during Japan's post-war reconstruction. This railway closed in the 1960s. Now, only one bus route runs from the town to Shinshiro city, about an hour away, but the buses are almost empty. Shitara also shows signs of decline, despite significant government investment in the town in an effort to modernize the rural area. The only service sector experiencing real growth in the town is elderly care.

This year, the town plans to begin considering the future of Damine Elementary School. It may be merged with another school in the nearby area. "This is a difficult issue," said Masahiro Toyama, head of the Education Department. "Closing the school would be like tearing the soul of the village apart."

Ha Le