Gujo Festival

Gujo Odori is one of the most accessible of Japan’s summer festivals. The dancing continues for 31 nights, but the high point of the festival is the all-night dancing (’Tetsuya-odori’) in the city’s streets and parks over the four days and nights of the Obon summer festival in mid-August. From its inception over 400 years ago, the aim was to create an occasion where everybody in the town of Gujo Hachiman could get together, regardless of the very powerful social divisions which then existed between peasants and samurai. This openness has continued to this day and tourists are encouraged to join in the dancing. Wear your own casual clothes or, if you really want to dress up for the part, wear a ‘yukata’, the light kimono you will find in many hotel rooms. The dance steps are easy to pick up, but if you need lessons, Gujo Hachiman Kinenkan Tourist Center can provide them.