Bon Dancing in Gujou Hachiman

Creative challenge: Day 11/31: video

In Gujou Hachiman, people dance from 8 p.m. to the wee hours of the morning, for many days, to celebrate Obon in their summer tradition. Yukata-clad men, women and kids all gather in the city center in a kind of Japanese line dance, performing the ancient Bon dance side-by-side. All through the night, the line circles around the city center, weaving past quaint shop fronts and Japanese-style houses, and a band of musicians chants traditional music, indicating the changes in dances as the night goes on.

We were lucky enough to join a group on Meetup.com that rented a car to travel from Nagoya to Gujou, which took us about an hour and a half. I was so excited to see all the summer festival food stalls; it was my dream come true! We tried takoyaki first (fried octopus balls): it was a hit! The other versions of takoyaki I had tried in the U.S. just hadn't cut it, but these were super tasty. We milled around the festival area for a bit before the dance started, and tried yakisoba (fried noodles), shaved ice and some delicious Western crepes.

We came across a shop showcasing sampuru, also known as fake food (from the English word "sample"). It drew my eye with the giant wedding cake visible from the street! My first thought, naturally, was that it was an incredibly beautiful cake that was obviously on permanent display in a glass case... I didn't even consider the fact that, if it were real, it would be melted and ugly. The sampuru souvenirs ranged from little fake tempura shrimp to big fake soft serve ice cream in a cone, and we had a fun time browsing.

When 8:00 hit, we joined the crowd and observed the more experienced dancers, finally joining in ourselves. The dances were fairly simple, with just a few different steps, hand motions and claps to go along with the authoritative whistling and drumming of the musicians. It was a very spiritual and enjoyable experience, especially being able to see that we were part of this large crowd dancing together endlessly. Of course, our night did have to end so we could return to Nagoya, and we piled into the car to head back. My friends and I were so grateful to the Nagoya Meetup group for this cultural experience!