2017 Domannaka Matsuri

The Nippon Domannaka Festival (called the Domatsuri for short) is the largest team dance festival in the Chubu region of central Japan.

Started in 1999, the festival is open to a wide variety of dance styles and features teams from throughout Japan and also from overseas. The 23,000 performers attract an estimated audience of 1.85 million people.

The only rules are that the dance teams have costumes reflecting their local traditions and that they carry a naruko (small clapper).

At the venue of Hisaya Odori Park in Nagoya, Day 1 sees a junior dance contest while day 2 features the main competition.

There are also pre-festival events on the evening before the start of festivities.

(Greg Lane)