Today we went to Tokyo Koenji Awadori, a Dance Festival which is held annually on the last Saturday and Sunday of August.
The little boy’s t-shirt offers us encouragement to ‘Love Earth’ and there was certainly a lot of love in the air as around 12000 dancers paraded through Koengi and performed Awa dance to an appreciative crowd.
When we arrived the streets were packed with dancers and musicians in brightly coloured costumes preparing for the parade ahead.
Women wore yukata , a summer kimono made from light cotton, and amigasa, a hat made from woven rush grass which cut through the air like fins.
When dancing the Awa odori – a dance with a proud tradition from Tokushima Prefecture – men bend over a bit and move with strength and dynamism whilst women turn their palms inward and gracefully move the wrists.
Thousands of photos must have been taken at Tokyo Koenji Awadori.
Here a shaven-headed man with hoop earrings takes a closeup picture of a young lady in traditional Japanese dress who is eating a fat sausage with chopsticks.