Bon Odori

Went to this Bon Odori festival near my house last weekend. Obon (お盆) is a summer holiday in mid-August dedicated to the remembrance of one's ancestors. It seems festivals are scattered throughout August, but the actual holiday is August 15.

Anyone can dance, even me! (Although everyone cannot dance well.) You watch the performers in the middle and rotate around them in a circle, picking up the dance as you go along. Some people seem to know the dances well, while others are picking it up for the first time and improvising a bit.

I was struck by the age groups represented here. By enlarge, it was a family event. Thus, there tended to be small children, parents, and grandparents. Very few twenty-somethings (kind of like church in America?) Maybe this was more reflective of the demographic of this neighborhood, not so much Obon at large. I found it interesting to see how the old is mixed with the relatively new, i.e. glow toys and shave ice.

In the video, you can see the young kids picking up the dances with a bit of pushing and prodding. Clearly, there it's a nudge to get them to pick up tradition, to absorb some culture. The drummers are also kids, composed of five year-olds to middles schoolers. Check out their performances here: