International audience Japan happens to keep alive a very rich heritage of performing arts as most of the countries of Asia. Rural kabuki and puppets theatre ningyo joruri are ones of the most representative and still rather popular performances one can encounter in the countryside, in small villages or towns. This great variety of performing arts finds its origins in religious festivals matsuri, which take place around Shinto shrines. Their religious origin does not prevent them nowadays from being included in the local culture and from taking part into the local identity as shows the way they are commonly perceived today. As most of them correspond to very longstanding traditions, they came to be included into the Japanese national cultural heritage as nonmaterial cultural assets. In a context of rural exodus and ageing society especially in remote areas, they even tend to be seen as factors of renewal of the local economies.This paper will deal with some aspects of the notion of playing in Japanese culture, focussing on two kinds of performing arts. I will briefly try to answer to the following questions. What are the processes involved in the historical evolution of performing arts which lead to their protection? Why those performances could be seen as steps to local renewal? How they manage to give meaning to Japanese identity?