Awa Odori

The festival

The Awa Odori of Tokushima is the largest dance festival in Japan: from August 12 to 15, in the middle of the season of Obon, the city of Shikoku Island welcomes more than 1.3 million visitors and tens of thousands of dancers. Tradition, more than 400 years old, was born in 1586-1587 for the completion of Tokushima Castle, when the lord Hachisuka Iemasa had sake distributed to the city residents.

The troops, called ren, march each with their choreography and costumes: the men dance low and vigorous (otoko-odori), the women slide in raised beta under their hat of straw amigasa (onna-odori), to the sound of the shamisen, taiko, shinobu flutes and kane bells. The chorus became the motto of the festival: "The mad men who dance and the mad men who watch — as long as they are crazy, as much dancing!" Anyone can join a ren and train with a troupe.

The city centre became pedestrian from 6 p.m. and the final party, where ren mixes in the street, lasted until the curfew of 10 p.m.