Tokushima City Awa Odori: dance groups in the streets

A ren is an organized group

Ren include established named groups as well as groups formed through workplaces and student communities. Dancers and musicians jointly make the performance. Group size, dress and style can vary, rather than following one fixed model.

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A generic relationship: dancers and musicians form a ren, with spectators alongside. Three instruments are examples, without prescribing order or a complete ensemble.

An ensemble shaped around the dancing

Tokushima’s 2018 guide lists kane, tsuzumi, shime-daiko, ō-daiko, transverse flute and shamisen as a basic ensemble. Zomeki names its lively two-beat rhythm and exuberant dancing. Describing recordings by selected members of two Tokushima associations, the official tourism site identifies flute melody, the shamisen’s crisp tone, a driving foundation from the large drum, rhythmic articulation from the shime-daiko and the kane directing their coordination. The city guide also explains that arrangements follow each ren’s dance style.

1. Two beats1 → 2 → 1 → 2 …
2. Ensemble partsArrangements follow each ren’s dance style

The holding references come from Osaka Tensuiren. The musical roles follow Tokushima’s official recording description; the photographs do not document a particular Tokushima ensemble.

Same-side movement in two dance styles

Otoko-odori (“male-style dance”) and onna-odori (“female-style dance”) name dance categories; the names alone do not determine who may participate. In Tokushima’s 2018 introductory method, otoko-odori starts in a low stance with the torso leaning forward. The right toe and right hand advance together, then the left side repeats in two beats. Onna-odori uses tiptoes, slightly bent knees, a forward lean and raised hands with palms facing each other. From weight on the left foot, the right foot lifts backward and moves in front of the left toes as the right hand advances; the other side repeats. This is the guide’s method, rather than one identical routine for every ren.

Otoko-odori: low stance, forward lean, alternating sides

Onna-odori: raised arms, forefoot support, repeating both sides

Conceptual states from the city’s 2018 guide. The backward lift and forward move are two observations on each side; four pictures do not represent four equal beats or measure foot angles and landing times. Dance-form names do not determine eligibility by gender.

Clothing belongs to a dance category and group

Tokushima’s 2023 recruitment notice for Diversity Tokushima-ren pairs onna-odori with geta and an amigasa hat, alongside loaned yukata and obi. The children’s category lists happi coats and obi. These are category-specific clothing arrangements for that group’s recruitment, rather than a uniform costume rule for all ren.

From circles to moving through streets

Local historian Miyoshi Shōichirō, writing in Awa Bank’s history, distinguishes small circles of Bon dancing from a processional form that moved along roads, already developing in the Bunka and Bunsei eras of the early nineteenth century. Tokushima Prefectural Museum describes moving street dances as the main form in Meiji and Taishō. A circle and a procession use space differently; the festival has not kept one unchanged formation throughout its history.

Spatial relationships, rather than a street reconstruction or a fixed number of dancers.

1. Bunka and Bunsei erasLocal history: a road procession was already developing
2. Meiji and TaishōPrefectural museum: moving street dances become the main form

Nagashi can mean musicians without dancers

Tokushima’s 2018 guide defines nagashi as musicians with shamisen and other narimono walking through the streets from morning into midday, without dancing. That particular use of the word differs from a historical procession of dancers. Descriptions of movement need their performers and period: a moving dance group and a musicians-only round are different activities.

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Nagashi in the 2018 guide: musicians walk and play from morning into midday, without dancing.

Ukisuke-ren: variety within one group

Ukisuke-ren formed with the postwar revival in 1946. Its association profile pairs a leisurely musical tempo with onna-odori, while otoko-odori performers handle fans freely. It also describes comic tako-odori and a children’s branch. These are features of a named group: tako-odori is not a standard movement required of every otoko-odori performer, and one ren’s tempo does not define the whole festival.

1. Ukisuke-ren · founded 1946Onna-odori: leisurely music; otoko-odori: fans
2. Other branchesTako-odori and children’s dancing; the name alone does not specify the movement

Nonki-ren: a distinctive combination of stance and gesture

Founded in 1925, Nonki-ren calls its style Nonki-chō. Its website text from around 2015–2017 describes otoko-odori with an upright back, low stance, footwork on the toes and crisp hand movements. The onna-odori description emphasizes a slower tempo and footwork it calls ukiashi. These are the group’s own style descriptions, not a common footwork rule for all ren.

Rehearsals and organization before the festival

Nonki-ren’s older website recruits separately for dance categories, children and the musical ensemble, and describes more frequent rehearsals before the festival and a training camp. A prefectural education directory also records gym rehearsals and intensified practice before Bon. The records show an organization at work before the public performance; their schedules belong to different dated or undated records and do not supply this year’s enrollment timetable.

1. Recruitment categoriesOtoko-odori / onna-odori / children / musicians
2. PreparationRecords of more rehearsals, gym practice and a training camp

Parallel records of organization and practice, rather than this year’s schedule.

Performance areas and introductory groups

The festival uses organized performance areas and also offers ways for beginners to participate. The city’s 2018 guide describes Niwaka-ren: participants learn and rehearse with an established group before entering a performance area. Viewing and joining therefore involve different arrangements, with meeting points, tickets and venues set for each year.

1. WatchSpectators → watch performances at the grounds
2. Introductory participation in 2018Learn and rehearse with an established ren → enter the grounds

Several accounts of formation

Awa dancing is connected with Bon dancing and fūryū, a tradition using elaborate dress, props and group performance. Another story associates it with public celebration of the Hachisuka castle’s construction; a local historical account identifies this as a popular tradition rather than a settled explanation.

Different performance traditions shared the city

Miyoshi’s history treats zomeki-odori, kumi-odori and niwaka-odori as different traditions that coexisted during Bon. Kumi-odori combined a small central performance with surrounding dancers and guards, using costumes and props to draw spectators. Niwaka included improvised sketches, theatrical imitation and topical satire. The moving street dances described by the prefectural museum for Meiji and Taishō thus followed a history of varied performance forms.

Roles in kumi-odori, without reconstructing historical dress or an individual event.

1. Zomeki-odoriDancing to a lively rhythm
2. Kumi-odoriCentral performers, surrounding dancers and guards
3. Niwaka-odoriSketches including theatrical imitation and topical satire

Coexisting traditions, rather than one line of successive replacements.

Wartime interruptions and the 1946 revival

The transport ministry’s cultural account summarizes the interruption in 1937 and postwar revival in 1946. A chronology in Satō Masashi’s research also records dancing for a film shoot in 1941, permission to dance in 1942, and another suspension in 1943–1945. The intervening years were therefore not an uninterrupted ban on all dancing. After the war, Awa odori became the formal event name.

1. 1937–1940Suspended
2. 1941Dancing for a film shoot
3. 1942Permission to dance
4. 1943–1945Suspended again
5. 1946Postwar revival

The 1950s: open streets or a place to display skill?

Takahashi Shin’ichi’s research records a judging site on Ryōgoku-dōri in 1947 and expanded performance grounds in 1951. Judging ended in 1952, but groups still concentrated around the viewing grounds. Those grounds were removed in 1953 and 1954 to encourage dancing across the city; some dancers objected that they had lost a focal place to show their skill. The grounds returned in 1955. Their removal and restoration changed the relationship between performers, spectators and city space.

1. 1947 → 1951Judging site established → expanded
2. 1952Judging ends; groups still concentrate
3. 1953–1954Grounds removed to encourage free movement
4. 1955A focal space restored

Some dancers wanted a focal place to display skill, and the grounds returned. The diagrams show the spatial relationship.

Workplace ren grow beyond small shops

Using newspaper records, Takahashi traces workplace groups from prewar shops, cafés and small factories to larger postwar companies, offices and public institutions, then national corporations and groups from other prefectures during rapid economic growth. He distinguishes developing a ren’s dance technique and identity from promoting a corporate image through performance. Public offices and hospital groups belong to the workplace history without all being commercial-company ren.

1. Before the warShops, cafés, small factories
2. After the warLarger companies, offices and public institutions
3. Rapid economic growthNational corporations and groups from other prefectures

These aims can coexist. Workplace groups include public offices and hospitals as well as commercial companies.

Indoor staging and renewed audience participation

Satō Masashi identifies the 1964 festival-eve event and selected performances from 1966 as steps toward staged presentation. Indoor productions used lighting, formations and held poses, encouraging established ren to develop collective choreography. His study also dates niwaka-ren to 1977: spectators could join, supported by established dancers and musicians as they entered the performance grounds. Watching a staged program and joining a dance developed as different ways to take part.

1. Staged viewing1964 festival-eve event → selected indoor performances in 1966, using lighting, formations and held poses
2. Joining inNiwaka-ren from 1977: spectators → enter the grounds with established dancers and musicians

Daily performances predate the 1999 hall

Satō’s chronology records daily Awa odori performances at Tokushima’s Industrial Tourism Hall from 1970. The dedicated Awa Odori Kaikan opened in July 1999, with a museum and performances by its resident ren and visiting established groups. Daily presentation, the summer street festival and the later dedicated hall are related developments with distinct dates and settings.

1. 1970Industrial Tourism Hall: daily performances
2. July 1999Awa Odori Kaikan: dedicated hall, museum, resident ren and visiting groups

Another interruption in 2020

On April 21, 2020, Tokushima announced cancellation of that year’s Awa Odori performances because safety for spectators and dancers could not be ensured during the spread of COVID-19. This was another interruption in the history of the city event. Performances returned in 2021 at reduced scale with managed admissions. Outdoor performance areas were present again in 2022 and 2023, at a smaller scale than before the pandemic.

1. 2020All performances in that year’s city festival canceled
2. 2021Return at reduced scale with managed admissions
3. 2022–2023Outdoor grounds again; smaller than before the pandemic