Nishimonai Bon Odori

西馬音内盆踊り

Along the main street of Nishimonai in Ugo, Akita, dancers with their faces hidden under deep straw hats or black hoods move slowly and gracefully by the light of bonfires late into the night. It was the first Bon dance in Japan to be designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Held every year from 16 to 18 August.

16–18 August 2027

290 days away

Every year, 16 August, for 3 days

Future dates: 16 August 2027 · 16 August 2028 · 16 August 2029

Origin

Ugo Town says that nothing was ever written down about the dance’s beginnings, and that all of it rests on tradition. One account holds that in the 1290s a wandering monk enshrined the mountain deity Zaō Gongen here, at what is now Nishimonai Mitake Shrine, and had people dance in its grounds to pray for a good harvest. To this was joined, at some point, a dance for the dead performed in the grounds of Hōsenji temple by retainers of the Onodera clan, lords of Nishimonai Castle, who settled here after the clan was destroyed in 1601. The dancing is said to have moved to the main street in the 1780s. In 1981 it became the first Bon dance in Japan to be designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, and the town counts it, with Awa Odori and Gujō Odori, among the three great Bon dances of Japan. In 2022 it was inscribed on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list as one of the furyū-odori dances.

What to look for

The draw is the eerie beauty of the masked dancers, moving quietly and fluidly along the bonfire-lit street. The women’s hanui robes are pieced from four or five kinds of old silk, sewn together symmetrically like patchwork, and a dancer may wear one only once her family and neighbours judge that she dances well. The hikosa-zukin, a black hood with holes for the eyes, is worn with the indigo-dyed cotton robes that men and women alike may dance in; other dancers wear a straw hat with its front and back brims sharply upturned, pulled low over the face. There are two dances: the slow, elegant ondo and the quicker ganke, in which a full sideways turn is said to stand for the cycle of rebirth, one reason it is called a dance of the dead. The music is played on flutes, shamisen, drums and bells, and the ondo is accompanied by sung verses called jiguchi. Children do most of the dancing early in the evening; the adult dancers are all out after 9 p.m. (2026).

How to watch

Stepping into the circle of dancers to take photographs, using a flash, and using tripods or other fixed supports are not allowed, and the law forbids flying drones over the festival (2026). On the closed-off street, only the benches and seats put out by the organisers may be used; bringing your own folding chair is, as a rule, not allowed. If it rains, the dancing moves to the town’s sports hall (announced at 2 p.m. on the day), and only people with paid seat tickets can get in.

If you go

The festival takes place on the main street of Nishimonai in Ugo, and the dancing is at night: in 2026 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m., and until 11 p.m. on the last night, the 18th. There is paid seating along the street; in 2026 seats on the stands and folding chairs cost ¥3,000 each and a three-person bench ¥7,000, sold on the day from 4 p.m. at the Bon Odori Hall. Ugo is about 15 minutes by car from Yuzawa Station on the JR Ōu Line, and in 2026 a free shuttle bus ran between Yuzawa Station and the town sports hall. Temporary car parks charge a fee (¥1,000 for a car in 2026), and the local tourism association says they are often full by 8 or 9 p.m.

Where

Honchō-dōri, Nishimonai

Ugo, Akita

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Sources

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