UGO, Akita – The dance Nishimonai Bon Odori, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, was recently performed in this northern Japanese city, captivating spectators from Japan and abroad.

The ritual is one of Japan’s three main Bon dances and is usually performed in summer to honor ancestral spirits. Dancers covered their faces with woven straw hats and “amigasa”-style hoods and danced them around bonfires under the night sky during the three-day event, which began on the evening of August 16.

Nishimonai Bon Odori is over 700 years old. One theory is that it is a fusion of two dances, one created by ascetic monks to pray for a good harvest and the other to make Bon offerings to ancestors.

Along with Gujo Odori in Gifu Prefecture and Awa Odori in Tokushima Prefecture, Nishimonai Bon Odori is one of the “Furyu-odori” dances in various parts of Japan that UNESCO has added to the Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2022. Many spectators came to watch the event on August 16, and the dancers were still in high spirits even after 9 p.m.

According to Kanetsu Sato, 65, chairman of the Nishimonai Bon Odori Preservation Society, interest in the dance from Taiwan and China has grown even more since the decision to register it as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and dancers plan to perform it in Thailand this year. He commented: “After the coronavirus pandemic, Bon dance is finally returning to its original state. Young people who went to the Kanto region (around Tokyo) and other areas also come back at this time of year, and we want to continue to pass it on to children in the community.”

(Japanese original and video by Akira Kudo, Akita Bureau)