![]() ![]() to 10:30 p.m., with a lively parade through Tokushima’s downtown streets. Today’s Awa-odori Festival starts during the day with a few small performances, but the main event occurs from 6 p.m. Officially permitted only during this 3-day period, dances could not take place in temples, and participants could not wear weapons or masks.Ī nightly matsuri in the heart of Japanese summer During this era, samurai were not allowed to participate in festivities, even if they were authorized to dance in their own homes. ![]() Sake was distributed to citizens, who began to dance with their musical instruments. This matsuri became its own celebration in 1586 when the local daimyo (lord) Iemasa Hachisuka celebrated the completion of Tokushima Castle with a great deal of alcohol. This festival was then created while people were dancing during the "death festival," a Japanese Buddhist celebration during which ancestors’ souls return to visit the living for a few days. Its choreography is derived from dances for Buddhist prayers dating from the Kamakura period, as well as kumi-odori, a harvest celebration. The term "Awa-odori" entered use only in the 20th century, but this celebration dates back to the 16th century, when Tokushima Prefecture was called Awa. It is nicknamed "the fools’ dance" because of its refrain: " The dancing fool and the watching fool are both fools, so why not dance?" ![]() The festival, which is so beloved that the prefecture’s airport was named after it, attracts about 1,5 million tourists every year, about 5–6 times the city’s population. ![]()
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