Friday, August 14, 2009

徹夜踊り(tetsuya odori): Dancing all night

There is a famous bon odori(盆踊り) called Gujo odori(郡上踊り) in Gifu (岐阜). It is one of the three biggest bon dancing in Japan. It has been held for 32 nights starting in the middle of July and lasting until the beginning of September. Dancing sites are different each day. Gujo odori starts around 8 and finishes around 10:30 usually and until 11:30 for Saturday in the night.
However from Aug. 13 to 16 people dance from 8 in the night till 5 in the morning. Therefore it is called tetsuy odori(徹夜踊り). Tetsuya means all night long. During these 4 days 250,000 visitors are expected to come and join the bon dancing.
People usually wear summer casual kimono called yukata (浴衣) and wooden clogs called geta (下駄).
It has 400 years old history. It has been designated as important intangible cultural property since Dec. 20, 1996. Interesting thing is the licenses will be issued to the good dancers.

I have been to Tetsuya Odori once in 2005.

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