As Village Bon Dances Fade Away, City Awa Dance Festivals Take Their Place

Last weekend, I went to see the Koenji Awa Dance Festival.

The crowd was enormous. There was no chance of watching the dancers up close, so I caught a brief glimpse of them beyond the sea of people and went home.

When you stop to think about it, this is a curious kind of festival.

Awa Dance originated in Tokushima. Yet it has grown into a huge event in Koenji, Tokyo, and later this month, another one will be held just one train stop from where I live.

The dance traveled from Tokushima to Tokyo and is now multiplying across the city.

It is remarkably contagious.

Why Is Awa Dance Performed All Over Japan?

Yosakoi Dance has followed a similar path.

It began as a festival in Kochi, but grew into the enormous Yosakoi Soran Dance Festival in Sapporo before spreading throughout Japan.

Both Awa Dance and Yosakoi Dance seem unusually well suited to modern cities.

Participants form dance groups or teams, wear matching costumes, and practice for months before the event.

Unlike traditional festivals, however, these events can be held without a reason tied to the local community, such as honoring a local deity or commemorating one’s ancestors.

You do not need to be in Tokushima to perform Awa Dance, and you do not need to be in Kochi to perform Yosakoi Dance.

That makes them easy to reproduce.

Traditional Festivals Were Demanding

Meanwhile, traditional community festivals are gradually disappearing.

These include Bon dances, shrine festivals, and other events in which the entire neighborhood was expected to participate.

Still, I do not feel inclined to romanticize them.

You could not simply say, “I’m not interested this year, so I won’t go.”

You helped with the preparations. You donated money. You carried the portable shrine. When it was over, you helped clean up.

If you belonged to the community, you took part whether you wanted to or not.

Festivals brought people together, but they were also a rather burdensome social system.

Cities Created Communities Without the Burden

In that respect, today’s Awa Dance and Yosakoi Dance festivals are thoroughly urban.

People who want to dance join a group or team. Those who are not interested do not. Local ties and family connections are irrelevant.

You could say that these festivals recreate the excitement of traditional festivals while removing the troublesome obligation of compulsory community participation.

We do not want to be bound by the local community.

But we still want the sense of unity that comes from joining a crowd and doing the same thing together.

We do not want the community, but we do want the feeling of community.

Human beings are remarkably good at wanting things on our own terms.

My Wife Has No Interest in Yosakoi Dance

My wife’s family lives in Sapporo.

It is the home of the Yosakoi Soran Dance Festival, yet she has no interest in it at all.

No matter how enthusiastic the participants may be, that does not mean every local resident shares their excitement.

For people who are not interested, it is simply a matter of saying, “Oh, it’s happening again this year.” Some may be more concerned about the noise and traffic restrictions.

In the same city, one person may spend an entire year practicing for the festival while another does not even know when it takes place.

Simply living in the same place no longer makes people part of the same community.

Intensely Managed Excitement

The Koenji Awa Dance Festival is full of extraordinary energy, but it is also tightly controlled.

The festival lasts two days. The dancing takes place during fixed hours. Because public roads are used, traffic controls and security are essential.

Dancers belong to organized groups and perform only at designated times and places.

The excitement looks completely uninhibited, but it is actually managed down to the smallest detail.

That, too, feels distinctly urban.

Festivals Did Not Disappear. They Were Reinvented.

Traditional local communities have grown weaker.

People interact less with their neighbors, and compulsory participation in a festival would probably be unwelcome today.

Even so, enormous crowds still gather for Awa Dance and Yosakoi Dance festivals.

It is not that people no longer need festivals.

As older forms of community disappear, we are deliberately rebuilding the festival itself.

No neighborhood ties are required. No family ties are required. No religion is required.

Only those who want to participate do so.

Those who are not interested simply take another street to avoid the traffic restrictions.

Later this month, yet another Awa Dance festival will begin one train stop from my home.

The dancers will probably look as though they are having the time of their lives.

Residents who are not interested will probably think, “The streets are crowded again.”

Traditional festivals compelled local residents to come together. Modern festivals allow us to remain separate even while sharing the same place.

Perhaps that is exactly the kind of festival that suits the modern city best.