Awaodori [Koenji Station]

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After my most emotional day at work - because I got a new job and am leaving my current eikawa position to teach in a private high school starting next week - I met Rani at Koenji Station, in western Tokyo, because she had heard about a dance festival called Awaodori there and we were interested in seeing what it was. As soon as I arrived, I knew that trying to find each other out of the station was going to be a nightmare of epic proportions, as the festival was happening directly out of the station gates, so I waited on the platform for her to arrive after her job interview and we went out to see what was going on.

There were TONS of people, and street vendors like at the other matsuri (festivals) I had been to this summer. But the different part was the large section of the street partitioned off and guarded by police officers, with lots of drums and bells and yelling. We couldn't see anything, so we made a wide sweep of the area and got some beers, and then found ourselves near where the teams of dancers were waiting to perform, behind a little barricade. Each team had someone holding up a set of lanterns with their team number, and they were all in different colors/patterns - it was really neat to see all the different fabrics used!

And it seemed to be very family-oriented, in that the teams had lots of groups and kids, and it looked like entire families performed together. The dance they were doing, I was told by a student, is called the awaodori, and originated in a section of Japan and then spread outwards. It's a very traditional dance that looks simple, but is not, due to the jumping and the hands and the fact that your arms stay up for a very long time, and is therefore quite tiring. The dance groups had different sorts of costumes and roles, it seemed, including women in yukata (summer kimono) and groups wearing happi (festival get-ups) and headwear that I had not seen before. I tried to get pictures of several groups so that the difference in the colors and patterns of their costumes was evident, as they were beautiful and I loved seeing the full range of them.

The groups went out one by one to perform, and we got lucky and found a spot right near the fence where the groups were preparing to go out, and were warming up and beginning their routines. So that was amazing - we had a great view, and everyone looked like they were having a really good time performing!

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