![]() In 1674, it was "forbidden for dancers or spectators to carry swords (wooden or otherwise), daggers or poles". It implies that samurai joined the festival alongside peasants and merchants, disgracing themselves with brawling and unseemly behaviour. This suggests that by the 17th century, Awa's bon-odori was well established as a major event, lasting over three days-long enough to be a major disruption to the normal functioning of the city. The dancing of bon-odori is prohibited in all temple grounds. No quarrels, arguments or other misbehaviour are allowed.ģ. They may dance on their own premises but must keep the gates shut. Samurai are forbidden to attend the public celebration. The bon-odori may be danced for only three days.Ģ. Some evidence of the festival's history comes from edicts issued by the Tokushima-han feudal administration, such as this one dating from 1671: ġ. It is unclear whether the song lyrics were written before or after this article appeared.Īwa Odori dancers in tight formation (in Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku) However, according to local historian Miyoshi Shoichiro, this story first appeared in a Mainichi Shimbun newspaper article in 1908 and is unsupported by any concrete evidence. This version of events is supported by the lyrics of the first verse of "Awa Yoshikono Bushi", a local version of a popular folk song which praises Hachisuka Iemasa for giving the people Awa Odori and is quoted in the majority of tourist brochures and websites. The lyrics are given in the 'Song' section of this article. Others picked up commonly available musical instruments and began to play a simple, rhythmic song, to which the revelers invented lyrics. ![]() The locals, having consumed a great amount of sake, began to drunkenly weave and stumble back and forth. The term "Awa Odori" was not used until the 20th century, but Bon festivities in Tokushima have been famous for their size, exuberance and anarchy since the 16th century.Ī dancer wearing an amigasa hat in Koenji, August 2009Īwa Odori's independent existence as a huge, citywide dance party is popularly believed to have begun in 1586 when Lord Hachisuka Iemasa, the daimyō of Awa Province hosted a drunken celebration of the opening of Tokushima Castle. The Awa Odori festival grew out of the tradition of the Bon Odori which is danced as part of the Bon "Festival of the Dead", a Japanese Buddhist celebration where the spirits of deceased ancestors are said to visit their living relatives for a few days of the year. The earliest origins of the dance style are found in the Japanese Buddhist priestly dances of Nembutsu-odori and hiji-odori of the Kamakura period (1185–1333), and also in kumi-odori, a lively harvest dance that was known to last for several days. History The Dance of Fools (in Kōenji, Tokyo) Performers wear traditional obon dance costumes, and chant and sing as they parade through the streets.Īwa is the old feudal administration name for Tokushima Prefecture, and odori means "dance". Groups of choreographed dancers and musicians known as ren (連) dance through the streets, typically accompanied by the shamisen lute, taiko drums, shinobue flute and the kane bell. Awa Odori is the largest dance festival in Japan, attracting over 1.3 million tourists every year. The Awa Dance Festival ( 阿波踊り, Awa Odori ) is held from 12 to 15 August as part of the Obon festival in Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku in Japan. ( September 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īwa Odori dancers (in Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku) Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill ( documentation) and Citation bot ( documentation). Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot.
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