Under
the depressed Japanese society, local university students are planning to spur
the local economy and raise the spirits of the community.
A new type of
thrilling dancing festival, “Nippon Domannaka Matsuri (The Central Japan
Festival)” will be held on a large scale in this coming August 20-22. The
festival will take place in Hisaya-odori Park, Yaba Park, Osu Kannon Temple and
two other main streets in Sakae, the middle of Japan.
The festival is modeled
on “YOSAKOI Solan Festival” in Sapporo, which has a variety of dancing teams.
University students in Chubu region who participated in the festival were very
moved and absorbed in the festival.
The city vibrant with life; the
atmosphere was full of cultural enthusiasm and energy among all the generations.
Besides, both the audience and the dancers in the whole city felt a sense of
togetherness that the students had never experienced in Chubu area. They came
upon an idea to establish a new festival in Nagoya, which will stamp out
economic woes, reflect the vigorous spirit of community and attract people from
all parts of Japan.
Students nowadays are regarded as inactive in community
activities, however, there are some who enthusiastically take part in the
society. The inactive students just don’t have the opportunity to find something
absorbed in and don’t know the enjoyable spirit of creating co-existing society.
Here then is a trigger of the exciting spirit, Domatsuri (abbreviation of Nippon
Domannaka Matsuri) created by young generation.
This festival will be
consisted of 20-25 teams from all parts of Japan and each team has around 50 to
150 dancers. There are two rules for the participants; one is to use their
regional folk songs that can be arranged for jazz, hip-hop, rock, samba etc. The
other is to use Naruko, traditional wooden instruments in Kochi. All the dancers
shake their Naruko in synchronized fashion, producing a unified splash of sound
and motion. Those rules are derived from “YOSAKOI Solan Festival” and “The
Yosakoi Festival” in Kochi, both of which are the same kind of
festivals.
Domatsuri aims at awaking and developing our co-existing society
culturally and economically. A number of dancing teams leaps and sways through
Nagoya City, spreading their energy to all people who encounter
them.
Consequently, every generation will gain the vigorous energy to
participate in the community actively. In this way, Domatsuri tries to
revitalize the community and remove the depression of Japanese economy. Let’s
make our co-existing society sprout with full of vigor through Domatsuri! It is
the time to burst into blossom.
Written by Sanae
Iwase
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