Awa Odori (Awa Dance)

This representative Japanese summer festival originated 400 years ago in “Awa,” what is now Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It is also performed in Tokyo, and attracts as many as three million spectators. The dancers sing and prance, chanting “Odoru aho ni miru aho, onaji aho nara odoranya son-son” (Dancers and watches alike are fools, so why not dance?). Numerous groups engage competitions. I never get tired of festivals like this one.