Central Japan · Gifu · Gujō
Gujō Odori
郡上おどり
A bon dance you join rather than watch — some thirty nights a summer, and through to dawn for the four nights of Obon.
Next
13–16 August 2027
288 days away
Every year, 13 August, for 4 days
Future dates: 13 August 2027 · 13 August 2028 · 13 August 2029
Origin
A bon dance — danced at Obon, the summer days when the spirits of ancestors are welcomed home — that has been danced for four hundred years in the castle town of Gujō Hachiman. According to the town’s tourism association, an Edo-period lord, wanting to bring the classes together, gathered the bon dances of the villages in his domain into the castle town and declared that for the four days of Obon everyone should dance together regardless of rank; it grew year by year from there. That is said to be why there are as many as ten dances. It was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1996, and in 2022 was inscribed by UNESCO as one of the Furyū-odori — in UNESCO’s words, “ritual dances imbued with people’s hopes and prayers”.
What to look for
The tourism association calls it "a dance for dancing, not for watching." Visitors and locals dance in the same ring, and no costume is needed. There are ten dances, beginning with Kawasaki, the slow and graceful signature dance, and the last of the night is always the quiet, wistful Matsusaka. Each night has a single venue, tied to a neighbourhood shrine or temple festival, so over the summer the dance makes a circuit of the town. The peak is the all-night dancing of Obon, from 13 to 16 August, from eight in the evening until four or five the next morning. Dancers good enough to impress the preservation society’s judges are awarded a certificate.
How to watch
This is a festival for joining, not for watching. The sound of geta, wooden clogs, sets the rhythm, and the tourism association encourages dancers to wear them.
If you go
The season runs from mid-July to early September, some thirty nights in all. It is not every night, and the venue changes each time, so check the dates and places in the schedule the tourism association publishes for that year. On ordinary nights the dancing runs from 8 to 10:30 p.m. (11 p.m. on Saturdays). The four all-night dances fall during Obon, so book a room early. Light rain does not stop it, but it may be called off if a weather warning is issued.
Where
Gujō Hachiman old town
Gujō, Gifu
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