this ppt is about awa odori japanese festival.

1. JAPANESE FESTIVALS
PRESENTED BY
DR SHIKHA BISHT
JAPANESE LANGUAGE

2. INTRODUCTION
◦ A reasonable estimation of Japanese festivals is 200,000
◦ There are approximately 190,000 temples and shrines in
Japan.
◦ Most of them hold at least one festival every year.
◦ Some shrines hold up to 70 festivals a year.
◦ In Japan there are also national and local festivals.
◦ Japanese festivals provide an opportunity to interact
with the locals and to participate in the light hearted
side of Japanese culture.

3. TAKUSHIMA AWA ODORI
FROM AUG 12 TO AUG 15

4. TAKUSHIMA AWA ODORI
Each year more than 100,000 festivals take place in Japan.out of these the tokushima awa dance festival is
the best.
The people of Tokushima (on shikoku island) participate in festival. they have named the airport after it.
Many people who call Tokushima their hometown (working in Tokyo and other large cities) return home for
the festival.
The festival also attracts large number of domestic & international tourists.
In total,around 13 million people flock to Takushima prefecture for Awa odori.

5. DANCE STEPS- Dance steps are irregular ( origins in drunken history of festival).
VERSION OF DANCE-
This festival occurs in 2 versions-
1-Day time
2- Night time
Day time- it is restrained & elegant.
a restrained dance called Nagashi
Night time- it is frenzied & energetic
frenzied dance called Zomeki.
Dance is different for both men & women
spectators are encouraged to join dance.
Women dance on GETA sandals.
Timing- 18.00 to 23.00 each evening.

6. TIMING OF T0KUSHIMA AWA ODORI FEST
◦ It is held from Aug 12-15th as a part of the areas obon
festival (A Japanese budhist festival that honors the spirits
of ancestors).
◦ Obon festivals in the area have incorporated dance for
many centuries.
◦ In the Edo era Tokushima’s obon festival was famous for
its size , energy
◦ With time a unique dance style emerged in Tokushima
Awa dance.
◦ Awa is old name for region.

7. ABOUT FESTIVAL
◦ The major rule of this festival is that Samurai cant dance.
◦ ORIGIN OF TOKUSHIMA AWA ODORI-
◦ The Tokushima awa odori began in 1586 when local daimjo Lord Hachisuka
Iemasa.hosted a drunken party to celebrate the opening of Tokushima castle.it
soon became an annual event.
◦ RULES OF EVENT
◦ 1-Dancing in streets is permitted only for 3 days.
◦ 2-Samurai are forbidden to attend the festival.they may dance at home but
must keep their gate shut.
◦ 3-No quarrels,argumets or misbehavior allowed.
◦ 4-Dancing is prohibited at all temple properties.
◦ 5-Dancers or attendees are forbidden to carry swords or wear masks.
◦ Samurai may be gone but festival is still a massive city wide dance party.

8. ABOUT DANCE
◦ The dancers and crowd often sing AWA YOSHIKONO
◦ Groups of choreographed dancers and musicians known as ren.
◦ Dance is accompanied by the shamisen lute, taiko drums, shinobue flute and the
kane bell
◦ AWA YOSHIKONO is a traditional song associated with the festival that gone like
this-
◦ Odoru ahou ni- the dancers are fools.
◦ Miru ahou- the watchers are fools.
◦ Onaji ahou nara- both are fools alike so.
◦ Odorana son,son- why not dance?
◦ Sometimes there is no meaning- yoi,yoi, yoi.

9. AVAILIBILITY OF TICKETS-
Anyone can collect ticket from tourist information centre.a systematic way of ticket
distribution is speciality of this centre.
Festival is spread over a wide area between the AWA ODORI museum and tokushima
station.
RANK- 1 of 109 Japanese fest.
1 of 16 things to do in Japan in august
2 of 29 summer events in Japan.

10. CONCLUSION
The Awa Odori Festival is surely
something worth seeing during the
summer season in Japan!
It’s a celebration where everyone is
welcome! If you aren’t a part of a ren,
don’t worry! Dance groups are willing to
teach you simple dances of the
celebration and maybe you’ll be able to
dance along with them too! It doesn’t
matter if you’re skilled at it or not. As the
motto of the festival says, “you’re a fool if
you dance, you’re a fool if you watch, so
why not dance?”

11. THANK YOU