If you are interested in traditional Japanese cultures, the Bon-odori folk dance festival might interest you.
Bon-odori dance is a memorial service for dead ancestors. Buddhists believe that the spirits of the dead revisit the world during Bon period, which is the week of August 15th. Many Japanese people take holidays during the week and go back to their hometowns for the event. Bon-odori dance festivals are held in neighborhoods everywhere in Japan, from July end to mid-August period. Bon-odori dance often starts in the evening, mostly after 6:00PM.
Last week I visited Bon-odori festival held at an old Buddhist temple in Tokyo. The temple is "Ikegami-Honganji" in Ota-ku, Tokyo.
Bon-odori dancers are lining up in a circle around a wooden scaffold called "Yagura". They dance forward anticlockwise. Bon-odori dancers are mostly women and they encourage visitors to dance as well. The top of "Yagura" is a small bandstand where a man play the taiko drum to the music. Lanterns are decorated around Yagura.
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| Dancers wear Yukata. On the top of the bandstand, a man plays the drum. |
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| Bon-odori music tempo is relatively slow. |
But the problem is how can I find? Bon-odori festivals are often informed by posters and flyers in towns. They are all written in Japanese. If you have a Japanese friend or Japanese husband and wife, it's easy to find out. If you are a totally a stranger in town, I suggest you ask a hotel concierge to look for one around the place where you are staying. One of the travel difficulties in Japan is that very few passers-by speak English. It's best to ask a hotel concierge.
I find one website that summarises Bon-odori dance festivals in Tokyo but it is all written in Japanese. http://matsuri.enjoytokyo.jp/summer/bon/ (From my view point, the website still consolidates only major Bon-odori festivals information, so it is a subset. There should be lots more.)
Along the road, you will find many food stands who sell fried noodles, sweets and lollipops.
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