Kōenji Awa Odori
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Kōenji Awa Odori
is one of Tokyo’s largest summer street festivals with up to 12,000 dance team participants and over 1.2 million visitors over the two day event. Held on the last weekend of August in and around the neighbourhood of Kōenji, Suginami the Awa Dance Festival is the largest of its kind outside of Tokushima Prefecture. The dance is performed by dance troupes, referred to as group of up to 100 musicians and dancers advancing in lines along the local streets to the accompaniment of shamisen, drums, flutes and cymbals. The dance troupes are mixed both in age and gender with women showcasing intricate formation dance steps wearing traditional yukata, Geta (footwear), geta and straw amigasa hats. Local community groups and schools take part in the festivities, but to keep performance standards high the Kōenji Awa-Odori also has a competition element leading to dance troupes from across Japan applying to participate. Gallery File:Awa-odori Kōenji 粋輦.jpg, Banner displaying name ...
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Awa Dance Festival
The is held from 12 to 15 August as part of the Obon, Obon festival in Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku in Japan. Awa Odori is the largest dance festival in Japan, attracting over 1.3 million tourists every year. Groups of choreographed dancers and musicians known as ''ren'' (連) dance through the streets, typically accompanied by the shamisen lute, taiko drums, shinobue flute and the kane (musical instrument), kane bell. Performers wear traditional obon dance costumes, and chant and sing as they parade through the streets. ''Awa Province (Tokushima), Awa'' is the old feudal, feudal administration name for Tokushima Prefecture, and ''Japanese traditional dance, odori'' means "dance". History The earliest origins of the dance style are found in the Japanese Buddhist priestly dances of Nembutsu-odori and ''hiji-odori'' of the Kamakura period (1185–1333), and also in ''kumi-odori'', a lively harvest dance that was known to last for several days. The Awa Odori festival grew out ...
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Kōenji
is a district of Tokyo in the Suginami ward, west of Shinjuku. The district's name originates from the old temples in the area. Kōenji is primarily a residential community with easy access to the Shinjuku and Tokyo stations. It was largely unaffected by the 1980s building boom and therefore many of the houses and shops in the area are small and reflect the character of "pre-boom" Japan. Due to its aging retail district and location on a major commuter route, the station area has become a center for small restaurants and "Live Houses" which offer live music. It is also known for having a young population and as a center for suburban underground culture including multiple used record and clothing shops. In 2006, when the Japanese PSE law went into effect restricting the sale of electronic goods built before 2001, Kōenji was chosen as the site for a protest due to its active "retro" culture and used equipment shops. History The current division of Kōenji into north and sout ...
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Suginami
is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The ward refers to itself as Suginami City in English. As of June 1, 2022, Suginami has an estimated population of 588,354 and a population density of 17,274 persons per km2. The total area is 34.06 km2. Geography Suginami occupies the western part of the ward area of Tokyo. Its neighbors include these special wards: to the east, Shibuya, Tokyo, Shibuya and Nakano, Tokyo, Nakano; to the north, Nerima, Tokyo, Nerima; and to the south, Setagaya, Tokyo, Setagaya. Its western neighbors are the cities of Mitaka, Tokyo, Mitaka and Musashino, Tokyo, Musashino. The Kanda River passes through Suginami. The Zenpukuji river originates from Zenpukuji Park in western Suginami, and the Myōshōji River originates in Myōshōji Park, to the north of Ogikubo station. History The name Suginami dates back to the early Edo period and is a shortened version of ''Suginamiki'' ("avenue of Cryptomeria, cedars"). ...
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Tokushima Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 682,439 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,146 Square kilometre, km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the north, Ehime Prefecture to the west, and Kōchi Prefecture to the southwest. Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima is the capital and largest city of Tokushima Prefecture, with other major cities including Anan, Tokushima, Anan, Naruto, Tokushima, Naruto, and Yoshinogawa, Tokushima, Yoshinogawa. Tokushima Prefecture is located on the Kii Channel, connecting the Pacific Ocean and Seto Inland Sea, across from Wakayama Prefecture on the Kii Peninsula of the island of Honshu. Tokushima Prefecture is connected to Awaji Island across the Naruto Strait by the Ōnaruto Bridge as part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, connecting the prefecture to the city of Kobe and the San'yō Expressway on Honshu. History Until ...
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Shamisen
The , also known as or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usually but sometimes when used as a suffix, according to regular rendaku, sound change (e.g. ). In Western Japanese dialects and several Edo period sources, it is both written and pronounced as . The construction of the varies in shape, depending on the genre in which it is used. The instrument used to accompany kabuki has a thin neck, facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of that genre. The one used to accompany Bunraku, puppet plays and Min'yo, folk songs has a longer and thicker neck instead, to match the more robust music of those genres. Construction The is a plucked stringed instrument. Its construction follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating body. The nec ...
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Yukata
A is an unlined cotton summer kimono, worn in casual settings such as summer festivals and to nearby bathhouses. The name is translated literally as "bathing cloth" and originally were worn as bathrobes; their modern use is much broader, and are a common sight in Japan during summer. Though are traditionally indigo and white in colour, modern commonly feature multicoloured designs, and are designed to be machine washable. They are similar in appearance to the , a unisex short-sleeved kimono-like garment worn by guests at traditional inns. Techniques and textiles Yukata are made using various textiles and dyeing techniques. Traditionally they were made with a technique called Nagaita-Chugata, where fabric was dyed on both sides with stencils. As this technique is expensive, a technique called Chusen was developed in the late Edo period to replicate the double sided cloth. Construction and wear are worn by men and women. Like other forms of traditional Japanese clothing, a ...
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Geta (footwear)
( geta) are traditional Japanese footwear resembling flip-flops. A kind of sandal, geta have a flat wooden base elevated with up to three (though commonly two) "teeth", held on the foot with a fabric thong, which keeps the foot raised above the ground. History The earliest known pair of geta was excavated in a Neolithic archaeological site near Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, dated to the Liangzhu culture (3400–2250 BCE). These geta differed in construction to modern geta, having five or six holes in place of the modern-day three. The use and popularity of wooden clogs in China has been recorded in other sources dating to between the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BCE) to the Qin (221–206 BCE) and Han dynasties (202 BCE–220 CE). Geta-style shoes were worn in Southern China likely until sometime between the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasties (1636/1644–1912), when they were replaced by other types of footwear. It is likely that geta originated from Southern ...
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Dance Festivals In Japan
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or by its History of dance, historical period or List of ethnic, regional, and folk dances by origin, place of origin. Dance is typically performed with Music, musical accompaniment, and sometimes with the dancer simultaneously using a musical instrument themselves. Two common types of group dance are Concert dance, theatrical and Participation dance, participatory dance. Both types of dance may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, Competitive dance, competitive, Erotic dance, erotic, War dance, martial, Sacred dance, sacred or Liturgical dance, liturgical. Dance is not solely restricted to performance, as dance is used as a form of exercise and occasionally training for other sports and activities. Dance perf ...
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Festivals In Tokyo
Tokyo holds many festivals (''matsuri'') throughout the year. Major Shinto shrine festivals include the Sanno Festival at Hie Shrine, and the Sanja Festival at Asakusa Shrine. The Kanda Matsuri in Tokyo is held every two years in May. The festival features a parade with elaborately decorated floats and thousands of people. More secular and seasonal festivals include cherry blossom, or ''sakura'', viewing parties in the spring where thousands gather in parks such as Ueno Park, Inokashira Park, and the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden for picnics under the cherry trees. In the summer annual firework and dance festivals such as the Sumida River fireworks festival on the last Saturday of July, and the Kōenji Awa Odori dance festival on the last weekend in August attract millions of viewers. See also * Festivals in Nagoya * Culture of Tokyo References {{DEFAULTSORT:Festivals In Tokyo Tokyo Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japa ...
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