The dancing city

Tokushima Prefecture presents several theories for the origin of Awa Odori: that townspeople danced to celebrate the completion of Tokushima Castle; that it derives from a furyū dance at Shōzui Castle; and that it grew from the Bon dances of the seventh lunar month.

Dancers perform in groups called ren, formed by neighbourhood, workplace or school, each passing down its own dance with shamisen, drums, gongs and flutes.

In Kōchi, also on Shikoku, the Yosakoi festival began in 1954, led by the Kōchi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to shake off a recession and pray for the health and prosperity of citizens. The naruko clappers dancers hold derive from bird scarers once shaken in the fields.

One descends from Bon dance, the other was born of post-war civic effort. Different in origin, both share those hours when groups of dancers advance through the city and the line between dancer and onlooker softens.