Gujo Odori dance festival is livestreamed this summer
Gujo Odori, which has been held in Gujo City, Gifu Prefecture for about 400 years is recognized as one of the three most important traditional bon dance festivals in Japan. It is designated as a Significant Intangible Cultural Folk Asset by the Japanese government.
The dance festival is typically held on over 30 nights from mid-July to the first weekend in September at various venues in the City, with approximately 200,000 people participating every year. In the four nights in the middle of August when most people visit, many tourists and residents wearing cotton traditional yukata and wooden geta sandals join “Tetsuya Odori” dancing from 8 pm to the next morning.
However, this summer the festival was canceled due to the new corona virus pandemic. Gujo City decided to call it off because it is not easy to prevent the infection spreading at the venues, where an unspecified number of people visit. Instead, the city has set up the virtual stage at which Gujo Odori performances are Livestreamed on YouTube as an alternative.
The virtual stage delivers
the dances and musics, songs performed by members of local preservation society
for 9 nights from July to September. The final broadcasting is scheduled for
September 5th. The city officials hope that tourists will be able to enjoy
dancing online this summer and come back next year so that they participate real
Gujo Odori festival and experience the attractive culture and beautiful nature
of Gujo city.
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