Traditional Owara Kaze no Bon Festival Begins in Toyama; Elegant Dance Attracts Visitors

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:09 JST, September 2, 2024

TOYAMA – Owara Kaze no Bon, a traditional festival held to pray for a good harvest, began on Sunday in the Yatsuo district of Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, expecting about 200,000 visitors for three days.

Despite concerns about Typhoon Shanshan, also known as Typhoon No. 10, the first day of the festival, which has been around since Edo period (1603-1867), was held as normal under cloudy skies.

Visitors were drawn in by dancers parading gracefully to melancholy sounds of traditional Japanese string instruments kokyu and shamisen.

The festival is known for three consecutive nights of dancers parading to tunes of shamisen and kokyu as well as Japanese folk ballad “Etchu Owara bushi.”