Traditional lyrics to the music used for Awa Odori translates to “The dancers are fools and the watchers are fools if both are fools, you may as well dance”. While there is no firm evidence to support this, the exuberant, sometimes frenzied nature of the dance is in keeping with the story’s theme of drunken revelry. There are tales of Awa Odori originating in the 16th century after drunken revellers took to dancing in the streets of Tokushima in celebration of the completion of Tokushima Castle. “Awa” is the name of the feudal province which later became Tokushima. Seeing the different people all dancing to the beat of the same drum was quite amazing! After th performance, we all boarded the cruise ship where the dancers began to perform some more when the ship began to leave the port.Awa Odori comes from Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. Watching the performance up close ignited a flame inside me a desire to emulate the dance & move among the dancers & become one of them! At the end of the performance, there was an awesome dance party where cruise ship passengers were able to dance awa odori with the performers. And the performance was MESMERIZING! I was caught off guard by how beautiful the performance was! I was captivated, moved, & touched! The dance was at times elegant (with the female dancers) & primal and liberating with the male dancers).
Although we didn't see a performance of Awa Odori (traditional Japanese folk dance), we were treated to a performance during a Tokushima farewell 30 minutes from when the ship was going to leave port. We came to Tokushima on a Friday morning during our cruise stop. Overall a fantastic event but just a pity it doesn't fall at a cooler time of the year. Interestingly when we went back home to Takamatsu late on Saturday night all the trains were packed and the streets gridlocked so they obviously had a large party on as well. It would be better to stay in Tokushima and have a shower before the performance but we got by going down from Takamatsu and spending a large part of the day in the airconditioning. The festival is in August so it is very hot. The performers are only too happy to help with photos. The marching and dance is graceful but can become quite frenetic.ĭuring the day various groups put on small displays around the shopping centers and malls. The dance and parade seems like a mixture of a traditional dance with elements of precision marching, very colourful traditional clothing, lighthearted traditional music with a jovial atmosphere from everyone involved from about 2 years to 80years. We got our tickets from the information tent set up outside the railway station andthey seem to always have someone who can speak Englsh working. You get a decent view of the performers but by the time the group has marched in the dancers are closest to area B and this is where they do a dance routine so if possible always go with area A or B. This is where the performers march into the stage. Areas A and B were sold out so we had to settle for C. Seats cost about $AU12 for area C to about $AU26 for area A. I can only comment on the stage along the river and closest to the railway station.
#Awa odori free#
Six stages are set up with 2 of these being free and 4 for paying seats. The entire city center is blocked to all but pedestrians with foodstalls along the riverbank andsome main streets. We enjoyed ourselves so much we went back on the Saturday for a second look. We planned this visit several months ago but all the accommodation in Tokushima books out months in advance so we stayed at Takamatsu and travelled down by train last Friday as they set up.
It is reported on some websites as being the number 1 festival in Japan with 1,000,000 visitors to Tokushima and I can see why. I cannot believe this festival has no english anguage reviews.
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