Every so often, you witness something so utterly different, so very apart from your own culture or comfort sphere, that it blows you away. To be honest, it only happened to me a few times in Japan. Maybe I’m not easily impressed. Maybe I’m more international than I realise. Nevertheless, attending Koenji’s annual Awaodori dance (Wikipedia Article) blew my mind into tiny fragments…
Basically, groups of people dancing something called ‘The Fool’s Dance’ parade their way around some of the streets of Koenji, a district of Tokyo. Each group dances their way around quite a long course, whilst literally thousands of energetic overenthusiastic drunk people cheer them on. It’s a fantastic celebration.
What blew my mind, though, was the reminder of how bizarrely open Japan can be. My mother, visiting Japan for only 10 days, jumped at the chance to borrow my friends yukata. Now in England, if a foreigner turned out in traditional English clothing (whatever that is), everyone would shake their heads and mutter about how tacky it was. But in Koenji? Not at all – everyone was far too busy joining in and ignoring the rain. Hundreds of times both the crowd and the dancers smiled and nodded at her, acknowledging and appreciating interest in their culture and traditions.
In short, the festival brought out the best in everyone.
These photos show some of the amazing clothes the dancers were wearing, but to do them justice I uploaded some pictures here in huge dimensions. Despite the downpour, I hope you guys can check out the awesome effort that went into their attire.
So, I officially annouce that when I come over here to study in September 2009, I will join an Awaodori dance troupe, and perform in August 2010. That’s a promise.
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