2022 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. In normal years, 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).

Usually taking place at Hisaya Odori Park in Nagoya, like something from the 1970s, this year is a “TV Festival”, which means it will be online—either on YouTube or Niconico Douga.