dancing with the beat - awa odori : August 23 2025

August 2025 · 5 min read · Suginami

love how fluid these movements were on these dancers. yes! this is the awa odori (阿波踊り), the largest traditional dance festival held every august in tokushima. but no we are not in the birthplace of the dance, the festival has a local tokyo version here in koenji and i happened to witness it.

my housemates had other plans so i was left alone on my own that saturday night. so i checked the net for scheduled events and browsed this site "Kōenji Awa Odori Festival". with little to no preparations, i immediately put on my walking gears and headed. the site mentioned that the schedule is quite strict, it ends at exactly 8pm. so to maximize, i forewent my original nightwalk plans and headed by train.

everything was normal, the train was even sleepy until it reached koenji where loud drum sounds could be heard even inside the train. i was in the right location!

it was very crowded! i knew which street the dancers were in but because of the huge crowd, people were directed into one way streets. i was walking away from where the activity was. i had to walk faster, past the food stalls -- i wasn't there for the food. i had to find my way back to the main street where everything was even more crowded. at one time i could only see the dancers from the cellphone screen in front of me.

i walked further to the direction of the station where intense dancing was happening. i even heard people in my native tongue saying that the best place to witness this all was still further up the street. i followed her advice blindly and i was happy i did.

finally found a spot, people in front of me were shorter in height. and so here i finally got to relax a bit, although it was very humid that day and my back was drenched. at one point, a man behind me was trying his best to insert his way and had his two hands on my back with all his weight. if i was with my housemates then my protective mode would be on which could be bad for the two of us, but luckily i was alone and the patience as at its highest. his futile attempt was not enough, i could carry heavier in the gym. he finally stopped and moved on probably pestering somebody else. but enough about me, here was what i witnessed.

awa odori

as mentioned earlier, this festival originally came from tokushima, a prefecture in the smallest of the 4 main islands of japan, shikoku. awa (阿波) was the old name of tokushima, and odori (踊り) meant to dance. so the festival literally meant the dance of tokushima.

aren't these ladies graceful? i absolutely bow to these women for having the energy to dance wrapped in all these clothing and standing on wooden sandals. women on these attires have the fluid and elegant dance steps.

each group dance to their own music, usually big taiko drums, shamisens, flutes, and a ping-y cymbal like percussion.

now the men on the other hand have bold and energetic steps. some are even comical, these entertain the crowds. i am just glad to see children involved in cultural activities.

colorful costumes and loud drum beats, these draw in the crowd in this yearly gathering here in koenji.

this lady had one of the best smiles. and this group had the most children in them.

and the bold energetic men! they even jump! yatto-sa! yatto-sa! these cheers were chanted by the performers as they dance.

very colorful costumes! and some women were also doing the silly dances usually done by the men. i was all smiles watching them chant and dance.

it was believed that this festival started as a celebration for the completion of tokushima castle. people gathered, drank sake, and danced in the streets. no wonder the men's dance somehow resembled drunk people having fun.

and 8pm, everybody even had a countdown, and the dancers did their ending poses. all the dancing stopped at 8pm sharp! and here was the aftermath. the onlookers slowly dispersed. i was very glad to have witnessed this.

now i have put together a video with all the dancing i witnessed. i do hope it gets uploaded without any problem, wishful thinking. if don't see any video in this post, then you know what happened.

the stamps

and the station stamp even reflected this festival marked by the straw hat. after 2 hours of witnessing the festival, this straw hat has become very familiar. koenji is also home to lots of music related bars and shops, home of indie and rock. and that weather charm at the side to represent a shrine dedicated to the weather, the only one in japan. that stamp is loaded!

here were the other stamps collected that day.

nakano's had a dog probably because of historical dog kennels established in the area. higashi-nakano had a tree and chatgpt said that it is probably because of the "greenery" of the station. uguisudani featured the japanese warbler, uguisu, of which the area is named after.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY!

_{all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified}

^{all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra}

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