Koenji: Best Summer Matsuri Dance Festival in Tokyo



Summer festivals... If you live in Japan, how can you avoid them. A great time to be in town, celebrating and getting to know your neighbours.



Japan's summer festivals are getting some attention on Youtube, with lots of homemade videos featuring traditional street dance and music. Search for 高円寺 (Koenji) or 阿波おどり (Awaodori) or 祭り (Matsuri). You will also find clips from Tokushima, where this particular festival originated over 400 years ago. Some history.


Koenji is a great little town just west of Shinjuku, Tokyo. I used to go there a lot and still like to visit. The Koenji festival in August every year is one of the best in the capital, after the Sumida River Fireworks Festival and Asakusa Samba Carnival.

Yes, yes.. the food is pretty bad, and it is crowded, and only really young kids like the stalls with silly games. If you went to Koenji this weekend, you probably went for the dance and the music. The different troupes practice a lot to get their steps right, with a powerful taiko beat, tambourines, more drums, and flutes...


Tokyo Koenji Awaodori Festival was first held in 1957 and celebrated the 50th anniversary in 2006. As the festival developed into a huge event, the number of visitors has also grown significantly from the original few thousands into 1.2 million. The town of Koenji gets incredibly crowded with visitors during the festival.

From the Koenji Awaodori Ren Association, a really nice website - thanks for the translations and updates guys!



And below, please click to enjoy Nakayama Uri and her sweet samba-inspired song called Splendid Summer Festival (夏祭り鮮やかに)...

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