Awa Odori Festival Guide: Tokushima’s Famous Summer Dance (2026)
Every August, the city of Tokushima on the northeastern coast of Shikoku transforms into the stage for Awa Odori — Japan’s largest and most exuberant traditional dance festival, drawing over one million visitors over four days and nights in mid-August. The festival is ancient: its origins trace to at least the late 16th century, when the local lord Hachisuka Iemasa is said to have thrown open the gates of his newly completed castle and allowed the townspeople to dance freely in celebration. The dancing has never really stopped since. Today, Awa Odori is both a profound act of communal celebration […]