TOKYO –
Summer festivals are in full swing throughout Japan, with distinctive native dances starting from long-established traditions to uncommon routines born at fishermen’s banquets and even performances set to the music of American rock band Bon Jovi.
Shikoku is called one in every of Japan’s strongest areas for native competition dancing, with Kochi’s Yosakoi Naruko Dance and Tokushima’s Awa Odori among the many finest recognized. In Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, the Matsuyama Yakyuken Dance has grow to be a neighborhood fixture.
Matsuyama initially launched the Iyo no Matsuyama Tsuzumi Odori in 1966, however the dance struggled to realize widespread acceptance amongst residents.
In 1970, organizers adopted Yakyuken, a type of native leisure related to Matsuyama, as the idea for a brand new regional dance. The transfer coincided with a nationwide increase in Yakyuken on the time, serving to the dance take root within the metropolis.
Hakodate in Hokkaido has developed one other distinctive custom, the Ika Odori, or Squid Dance, which is claimed to be easy sufficient for nearly anybody within the metropolis to carry out.
The dance was created in 1980 by a gaggle of native volunteers. At the time, Bon dances consisting primarily of conventional hand actions had been frequent, however native fishermen wished to create one thing completely different.
The thought emerged throughout a fishermen’s banquet, the place contributors devised each the choreography and the accompanying chants. The dance was linked to squid, one in every of Hakodate’s best-known native merchandise, and has remained in style for 46 years.
At the Hakodate Port Festival held in August, the Squid Dance was carried out over two days and drew about 20,000 guests.
Participants parade for greater than 1 kilometer via Hakodate whereas performing the dance. One of its defining options is its simplicity, with the routine mentioned to be learnable in about one minute.
Local dances can even function a method to revive festivals dealing with declining participation.
Tomohiko Sato, a Bon dance ambassador who participates in additional than 100 native dances a 12 months, mentioned their enchantment comes partly from the sense of native satisfaction created by showcasing regional specialties, in addition to the unity and achievement individuals really feel when performing the identical actions collectively with out overthinking them.
Some festivals, nevertheless, are combating ageing populations and different demographic pressures.
In Otaru, Hokkaido, the Zenibako Children’s Bon Dance Festival had confronted considerations over whether or not it may proceed.
Organizers discovered a potential lifeline in Bon Jovi, a playful fusion of Bon dancing and music by the American rock band Bon Jovi that first attracted widespread consideration in Tokyo’s Nakano district.
After the Otaru competition launched Bon Jovi, the variety of individuals attending particularly to participate within the uncommon dance reportedly elevated.
The expertise means that sustaining custom whereas incorporating new concepts could also be a technique for native festivals to outlive.
Simple dances that make it simple for newcomers to affix can even appeal to kids, whereas social media can shortly flip an uncommon competition efficiency right into a broader phenomenon.
Even as synthetic intelligence turns into more and more outstanding, shared bodily experiences involving the senses stay vital, and Bon dancing is one instance of an exercise that enables individuals to expertise one thing collectively.
Source: TBS