The Dancing Fool

Mark Wisniewski was a visiting professor at Tokushima Bunri University in mid-2003, researching and translating documents related to the origin and history of Awa Odori. Much of the history presented on this page draws on articles he wrote in the monthly magazine Awa Life and in his short booklet "Dyeing to Dance". I have struggled to find other English resources on Awa Odori. Mark's work was timely and I thank him for it.

Even before Hachizuka's time, however, Awa Odori took its first few breaths of life as a traditional dance tied to the summer festival of Obon. Obon is a major Buddhist festival marked by holidays in Japan, a time when families gather to welcome their ancestors back to Earth, pay respect to their spirits, and send them back to heaven again for another year. Awa Odori is just one of many Bon dances, all of which can be traced back to the Kamakura Period between 1185 and 1333.

The Tokushima region became known for the quality of its indigo dyes during the 17th century, bringing trade and attracting interest in the style of Bon dance unique to the area. At the same time, though, feudal authorities were growing increasingly fearful of rebellion. To discourage large gatherings of people, local lords placed considerable restrictions on times when dancing was allowed, who was allowed to do it, where it could be done, and even on what could be worn by dancers. The influence of indigo merchants offset these restrictions somewhat, and people nevertheless found ways to flaunt the laws, but it wasn't until the Meiji Restoration of 1868 that the lot of common people in Awa improved. The end of the shogunate brought about a comparative freedom to dance, but the good times didn't last long.

As Japan ended her centuries-long isolation and battled to catch up with the rest of the world in the late 19th century, the world changed. Japan went to war with China in 1894 and barely found peace again until the end of World War 2 in 1945. Various burdens of war, disease, food shortages, and regional conflict forced the Bon dance of Tokushima to be held only rarely. It even became a tool of propaganda in 1942 when the dance was held to celebrate Japan's progress in the war. A scant three years later, Japan had little to be happy about, but finally it was time for Tokushima's dance to flourish.

In 1946, the dance took on its modern name of Awa Odori and was hosted as a festival in Tokushima in an effort to boost the morale of the local population. By the 1950s, the dance was being held regularly, the number of organised dance groups was growing at a rate of knots, and the annual celebration was drawing in tourists and providing much-needed economic growth. The latter half of the twentieth century has seen Awa Odori grow into one of the biggest spectacles in the whole of the country, involving some 950 registered dance groups and attracting up to a million visitors during the festival season. Though the dance has been through some hard times, these days it is one of Tokushima's most recognisable cultural icons and a wonderful expression of the spirit of Awa's people.