Obon and Eisa Dancers

Kin Town Eisa playing  an Odaiko drum

In August most of Japan observes a holiday called Obon. The Japanese believe that when someone dies they remain in a spiritual realm and come back once a year to visit their loved ones for three days. They welcome their ancestors' spirits in and then send them off again during this holiday. The Obon festivities last for three days and during this time they prepare feasts for the dead and have sort of a family reunion. They hang lanterns and put food at the family gravesites. It's also a time for gift giving and celebration of family. They have rituals that are performed each day of Obon which include lighting candles at the altars and gateways to the home to welcome the spirits in and bowls of water at the entrance for them to wash their feet after their long journey home. You can read about their traditions for each day here and here if you are interested.

Since Russ and I have lived both in mainland Japan and now in Okinawa it is interesting to see the differences in which they celebrate the Obon holiday. In mainland Japan, most of the communities host a Bon Odori festival. They have different dances that are common in each prefecture and they all dance in the streets to honor their dead.  The music is quite different and the drum shows are also different. Here's a You tube video of the mainland Obon dances and another video that shows their drummers so you can see the differences. I looked for Bon Odori's here but found that they focus more on the Eisa dancers and drummers in their festivals. They go through the communities on the last day of Obon to send the spirits back to their spiritual realm. There are also many community Eisa festivals held during the month of August and each community has their own drum/dance group that perform their own unique dance and drum shows. Here's a short video of our local Eisa dancers performing.

Eisa is a form of folk dance that originated in Okinawa and is usually performed by young people to honor the spirits of their ancestors during Obon. The performances usually consist of folk songs sung or chanted while playing on the sanshin (a three stringed instrument), drummers playing three different types of drums and girls dancing in the back of the line. Each community has their own Eisa costume colors as well but a knotted turban on their heads, a vest and striped leggings with toe socks are common to most of each region's costumes. The girls wear a yukata robe with an obi around their waists and they perform their dances  with fans, flags and hand motions.

On the second day of Obon (mid-August), Russ came home from work and told me that there were Eisa drummers performing on the main highway in front of our apartment, just a quarter mile from our home. I immediately grabbed my camera and set out walking to find them. I met up with them at the Lawson's store as they were finishing their show at the houses near there. They had a covered truck that they traveled in with a speaker on top (to broadcast the singing) and they loaded the drums on board and moved on to the next house. The older men in the group sat in the truck playing their sanshin and singing while the drummers performed. Throughout the evening they went from house to house drumming, dancing and singing to send off the spirits from each home back to the spiritual realm. The homeowners usually had a cooler of cold drinks for them and snacks to offer them as thanks. After I'd taken pictures of them on the main highway in front of our apartments, I walked home but they ventured up the side streets and you could hear them all evening as they visited each home along the hillsides behind our apartment. At about 9 p.m. I heard them again and they had made their way back around to the home that sits directly behind our apartment building. I sat on the back balcony and watched them perform again and after their performance, a cooler was brought out full of drinks and offered to the group. I'm sure they were all quite tired by that time.

Walking to the next house

Shimedaiko drummers

The singers and Sanshin musicians

A close-up of the Sanshin