Shoes, Shoes, And More Festival Shoes!

As previously mentioned, we are smack in the middle of Japan's summer festival season!  Many of these festivals are in celebration of Obon, the time of the year when Japanese welcome home the spirits of their ancestors.  And what better way to celebrate the return of loved ones than to dance?!

Bon Odori (O-dori means "to dance") celebrations are typically- but not always- centered around circular dances.  Each neighborhood will set up a tall stage in the center of the local park, with participants dancing on top and around the stage for hours.  Many Bon Odori dances are the same no matter where you go.  If you learn a couple (and even if you haven't!), then feel free to jump right in.  Everyone is welcome during Bon Odori!

Awa Odori celebrations are much more choreographed and a bit harder to find.  An Awa Odori festival will typically be quite large and stretch down a city's main thoroughfare.  Don't try to jump into one of these dances! In preparation for these festivals, participants attend months of grueling practices.  Each dancing troupe, along with their attendant musicians, is sponsored by an organization. Dancers wear their organization's particular kimono colors and dance a specific dance.  It gets loud and crazy and fun!

A troupe sets up their dance.  The man in the front holds a lantern that announces their sponsor.  The female dancers are the main attraction, but the musicians and male dancers at the back are pretty impressive, too!

My favorite part of Awa Odori?  All the different shoes!  Female dancers wear one kind of shoe.  Male dancers wear another. Musicians wear yet another type of shoe. As someone who can't even dance barefoot, every year I am in awe!

Many of the musicians and male dancers wear jika-tabi, which are essentially regular tabi (Japanese socks)
but with a reinforced sole that turns them into shoes.  Laborers, such as rickshaw drivers and construction
workers, can be seen wearing these today.  The flexible sole gives the wearer much more control.

No comfortable footwear for the female dancers!  The grueling part of Awa Odori practices include learning how to dance in geta, raised wooden shoes.  Blisters and stabbing pains are all part of the deal!

Geta are a casual shoe, whose height is meant to keep a kimono wearer high and dry  during inclement weather.
Awa Odori dancers have to stay on their toes in geta!

A dancer in jika-tabi.

Here we have the much more common zori.  Zori are typically worn with kimono, with the
various types of zori corresponding to the level of formality.  These zori are made of straw, which
is the most casual level.  Incidentally, our modern flip flip was born when American service
members returned home from WWII, flopping around in Japanese zori.

This Awa Odori group was sponsored by the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces.  Each year, they graciously allow a few Americans to dance in their Awa Odori troupe.  Can you spot the American?  I barely can...she's just as good as her fellow Japanese dancers!

Disclaimer:  I do my best to make sure all my information is accurate.  However, details may change or I may just be flat-out wrong.  Please let me know if something needs a correction.  Thank-you!