Bon Odori
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In early August its Obon, one
of the 2 times in the Japanese year when many people leave the cities
and return to their hometowns. At Obon, the dead, the ancestors,
are honored. Graves are cleaned and every community holds the Obon
dance known as Bon Odori. In our village Bon Odori is accompanied
by a small matsuri. There are only a handful of stalls, but they
are manned by locals, so the prices are lower and quality higher
than at a big town matsuri.
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Before the dance the local Kagura group
performed for a couple of hours.
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In one dance a troop of monkeys leave the
stage area and terrorize the children in the audience. Older kids
have fun, but I saw several very young kids burst into tears of
fright.
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For the dance itself,
the singers and drummer are atop a small tower in the centre of
the grounds, and the community dances in a circle around it.
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The song sounds very mournful,
and I was surprised to see the singer reading the lyrics from a
sheaf of papers, but apparently there are over 300 verses to the
song, and they change each year.
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