Every summer in Japan, the months of July and August host the Buddhist Festival of the Souls, O-Bon, when the souls of the departed return to their homes for feasting and Bon dance celebrations with their descendants. The Okinawan version of the Bon dance, Eisa, continues even into September. There, the air reverberates with drums, whistling and calls of “Iya sa sa! Ha iya! Na tiche!”
O-Bon, the Buddhist Ancestor Festival
Since the early 17th century, all Japanese have been required to register with their local Buddhist temple, giving rise to the concepts of a family temple and a family hometown. In the days when the agricultural population was rooted to their fields, one son and his wife would inherit the farmstead and the family altar, becoming the guardians of the ancestral tablets. Priests from the family temple would call at specified intervals after a death to say prayers at the family altar and help the deceased’s passage to the afterlife.
At O-Bon, the recently deceased are welcomed back to the family homestead. Trains and planes are packed during the two designated bon seasons, in mid-July and mid-August, when businesses close so that workers can return home for one or the other period. First the ancestral graves are cleaned and refreshed with flowers, the family altar decorated for the festival, then everyone joins the evening community Bon dance (Bon Odori) that nominally celebrates the ancestors’ return. On the third day, the ancestors are sent back to their afterlife.
Bon-Odori Circle Dances of Mainland Japan Compared with Okinawan Eisa Street Dances
Bon Odori in mainland Japan are lively affairs of dancers dressed in summer kimono-like cotton yukata circling around a central, specially constructed tower. If the community is lucky, there will be live music from the tower top, but recorded music serves as well. The circle dances are regionally variable, with different music, steps and hand gestures—a challenge to the participating visitor!
In Okinawa, however, the Bon dance Eisa takes a radically different form. Groups of youths dressed in unique costumes of leggings, coloured vests and head scarves pound large and small drums and call out phrases as they progress through the streets (photo). Young women in Okinawan yukata perform hand-dances as they follow along answering the drummers’ calls, while three-stringed sanshin lute players, three-tablet castanet samba players and clowns provide music and entertainment, punctuated by loud whistling. Each community dances to a suite of some ten folk songs of their choosing, whose lyrics often sing of the joy of dancing Eisa.
Alas, unlike Bon Odori, Eisa cannot be casually joined in by outsiders. But if you live near a group and express interest, they would undoubtedly welcome you to learn and participate.
Where to See Eisa Dance
Eisa is traditionally a preserve of each neighbourhood, with the local troupe visiting houses and small businesses to pray for the occupants’ health and prosperity through song and dance. During Okinawa’s O-Bon, July 13th to 15th, you might be lucky enough to encounter a group dancing in the street. You might even see a gae, a music-and-dance “battle” between troupes of two adjacent neighbourhoods. Sonda (see photo) and other areas in Okinawa City are good places to try.
If you miss the formal O-Bon season, you may still catch one of the several festivals organized for showcasing Eisa dance. Neighbourhood competition, in the best sense of local identity and commitment, has given rise to formal presentations between groups. These now take place in large stadiums or as street parades, with prizes often given for the best players, new compositions, most ingenious dance formations, and outstanding costumes.
Within Okinawa, festivals are scheduled from mid- to late August in Nago City, Okinawa City, Chatan Town, and Kita-Nakagusuku Village, and in September in Kadena Town, Uruma City, and Okinawa City again. (See Mahae Plus for the 2009 Okinawa Eisa Summer Season.) Tokyo holds its expatriate Eisa festival in July, Osaka’s is in September, while in Hawaii, Bon dances and Eisa continue throughout the summer, as listed in the Hawaii Herald’s 2009 Bon Dance Schedule.
In Hawaii, there are no less than nine Eisa dance and/or drum groups at last count, and many more are dotted around North America (photo); some perform outside the O-Bon season. In England as well, the London Okinawa Sanshin Group based at SOAS, University of London, performs year-round on request. So, get ready for some rousing music and spectacular costumed dance routines, and find yourself an Eisa event! If nothing is happening near you, try searching for “Eisa” on YouTube for a taste of the wide range of groups and styles.
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