The Awa Dance Festival is held from 12 to 15 August as part of the 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.
Awa Odori dancers (in Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku)
The Dance of Fools (in Kōenji, Tokyo)
A dancer wearing an amigasa hat in Koenji, August 2009
Awa Odori dancers in tight formation (in Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku)
Obon or just Bon is a fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon Odori.
A depiction of Obon in the late Edo period
Kyoto's Gozan no Okuribi bonfire lit during the Obon festival
The shōryō uma (精霊馬, "spirit horse") or ushi uma (牛馬, "cow horse"), vegetable decorations made for O-bon.
Participants place candlelit lanterns in the Sasebo River during Obon.
