Easy, addictive: Awa Odori dance is Tokushima’s greatest export
The multinational Arasowa-ren dance group members practice their moves in Tokushima on July 6. (Kazutaka Toda)
TOKUSHIMA--Summer here is busy with more than 1 million spectators expected to pack the Awa Odori dance festival, which dates back over 400 years.
But the festival from Aug. 12-15 this year is not the only place visitors can see Awa Odori. As a culture, it has been spreading worldwide.
While the organizers of this year’s festival are trying to draw foreign tourists, using the slogan “Love & Cool” on posters, the dance has brought foreigners to Tokushima and Tokushima to the world for a long time already.
On the evening of July 6, about 20 people from 11 countries including Brazil, the United States, and Fiji were practicing Awa Odori moves in a conference room of the Tokushima Prefectural International Exchange Association.
An instructor told them how to move and to pay particular attention to their feet and knees.
They were members of the Arasowa-ren dance group, which mainly consists of non-Japanese dancers. It was the group’s first rehearsal before the big day at the festival.
Nearly half of the dancers were wearing “tabi” socks and wooden geta clogs for the first time. They practiced for about 90 minutes, looking excited and nervous at the same time.
The predecessor of Arasowa-ren was founded in 1981. The word “Sarasota” has connotations of a world without conflict, while “ren” is an Awa Odori term for a dance group.
Many of Arasowa-ren’s members were non-Japanese from the start. More than 100 people join the group each year. At one time nearly 300 people participated.
Marcelo Eidi Cho, 34, a fourth-generation Japanese-Brazilian dentist, was taking part for the first time. He was closely following the movements of others.
“My legs are more tired than I expected,” he said with a smile. “My knees hurt.”
Cho came to Japan in May this year on a Japan International Cooperation Agency training program.
He became interested in Awa Odori when he saw a dance group practicing in a park near Tokushima University. Then, a friend invited him to join Arasowa-ren.
“I hope I can become good at it,” he said. He pledged to keep practicing, adding that he hopes spectators will enjoy it.
The group’s instructor was Shinichi Niki, 60, a member of another famed group, Nonki-ren. Nonki-ren has been teaching Arasowa-ren how to dance since 2017.
Niki said Awa Odori has three primary elements: a two-beat rhythm, hand and leg movements, and a smile.
The true spirit of the dance is to get everyone moving, he said.
“Encouraging spectators to join and enjoy dancing together is what makes it Awa Odori,” he said.
The dancers embrace their learning deeply. One former member from Malawi has now returned home but still does Awa Odori moves.“I think Awa Odori is a form of diplomacy that doesn’t require language,” Niki said. He added that he hopes others will join in and thereby learn the culture of Tokushima--and