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The Awa Odori or the Awa Dance Festival is a part of the annual festivities held in Japan during the time of the Bon Odori (Bon festival), to welcome one's ancestors back to the world for a few days. The Awa Odori originally belonged to the capital city of Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku Island. The Koenji Awa Odori, started in 1956, in Koenji, an area of Tokyo, modeled on Tokushima's. The Koenji Awa Odori, is organized every year in late August, and is held over a period of three days. A number of groups, or "ren" ?e.g. edokko-ren, tengu-ren?, perform a variety of dances to a distinctive Awa-Odori rhythm. This rhythm is performed with such accompaniments as the Shamisen, Drums, Brass, and Flutes, Bells etc. The dance is attended by a chant that says - "Odoru aho ni miru aho; onaji aho nara odoranya son son!" (It's a fool who dances and a fool who watches; if both are fools, you might as well dance!). This chant has given the Awa Odori its other name, "fool's dance". Customarily the Awa Odori dance styles are classified into two types, Otoko-Odori (men's dance) and Onna-Odori (women's dance). Men and Women follow separate dance steps and wear different costumes, though their movements are as closely and as tightly choreographed as possible. Women are dressed in yukata (cotton summer kimonos), and wear a straw hat or kasa and dance on the tip of their toes wearing geta, a type of sandal. And men are costumed in a happi coat, and the tabi, a type of split-toed, rubber-soled socks. Bon dances are typically performed in a circle, though Awa Odori participants march in a straight line, and move forward using their arms and legs with as much vigor as possible. The fundamental rule of the dance is to move the right arm forward with the right leg, and the left arm forward with the left leg, in turns to the two-beat rhythm. The dance troupes all sing "Ya-to-sa" as they dance through the city streets. The Koenji Awa-Odori, is the second largest of the Awa Odori, and takes place on the streets, and in the shopping arcade of Koenji. The Koenji Awa-Odori takes place on August 26, 27, and 28 every year. The three best groups that participate in the festival are # Edokko-ren, Iroha-ren, and Asuka-ren. August 26 is the pre-festival, held between 6pm and 8pm, with the main groups taking turns to do stage dance shows in the south rotary of Koenji Station. On the 27th and 28th, the festival starts exactly at 6:30pm and ends at exactly 9:30pm. The Koenji Awa-Odori also has some other events such as the police motorcycle show, with about 50 or so police officers in customized Harleys with side-cars riding the entire route of the dance performance on the 27th. The Koenji Awa-Odori route covers about 3-4 kilometers in a figure eight shape, with several starting points, and different groups starting at different places and moving around the figure eight route. The Koenji Awa-Odori has around 990 different community dance groups participating, and thousands dancing in the streets to rhythmic traditional music, with over a million visitors watching the show. The Koenji Awa-Odori is held near the Koenji station, at Ikejiri-Ohashi (two minutes from Ikejiri-Ohashi station, Tokyu Den-en Toshi Line). Anybody visiting the place during the festivities is welcomed with warmth, and though they are not allowed to participate during the festival, there is a free for all after the actual festival ends. Do make out time to come and visit Koenji during August, and partake of the festivities of Koenji Awa-Odori.
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