Bonodori

Bonodori
Originally uploaded by Shining Love Pig.

Definately a highlight for me - this dancing festival marks the beginning and the end of the Obon holiday...apparently it only lasts a week, and I suspect that different Japanese people celebrate it a different times of the year...one of my next door neighbours introduced it to me in July...maybe she comes from another prefecture...

Anyway, Obon welcomes the spirits of ones ancestors into the family home. Depictions of horses made from aubergines & cucumbers are left outside the doors, facing towards the home at the start, and away when the period is over. The spirits are suuposed to ride in and out on the animals.

This particular Bonodori was held in Roppongi Hills - a complex of buildings that wouldn`t look out of place in Logans Run, containing expensive cafes, cinemas, shopping malls et al...more noteworthy, it houses the Mori Art Museum and the headquarters of Asahi TV, which filmed the proceedings, so naturally it was hosted by a few celebrities and an old woman who was there as a crowd-exciter...I loved her because she looked like Jimmy Cranky...

...and yes, of course I danced. Photos exist, but to see those, you`ll have to pester Dave at No Compassion Without Suffering in the blogs menu...