Bo-no-te is a folk performing art handed down in Sakurai Town in Anjo City, Aichi Prefecture. During the Warring States period (1493-1573), a warrior named Shikibu Dayu, who was a retainer of the Imagawa clan and stayed in this area after his forces were defeated by Oda Nobunaga’s surprise attack in the Battle of Okehazama, started to teach the local farmers how to use staff weapons for defensive purposes. It was called Shikibu-ryu Bojutsu (the Shikibu school of staff techniques).

Later, when the nation returned to peace, the staff techniques turned into the performing art that was dedicated to god in hope for a good harvest. There are two kinds of Bo-no-te performance; Omote and Ura. In Omote, only sticks are used, while, in Ura, lances, jutte (an ancient Japanese weapon) and scythes are used. The techniques in Bo-no-te have been proudly handed down in the town, where performances by elementary school children are held in recent years. It was designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the prefecture in 1964.