2018 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).

This year’s event has been extended from three days to four days with a student competition on the first day. The final contest is on the last day. All the performances take place at Hisaya Odori Park in Nagoya.

(Greg Lane)