Male dancers leap on the stage at the World Expo venue in Osaka on May 3, 2025. (Mainichi/Yoshihiro Yamamoto)=Click/tap photo for more images.
OSAKA — Some 700 dancers descended on Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai on May 2 and 3 for a traditional Awa Odori dance event hosted by western Japan’s Tokushima Prefecture, with a huge circle dance on the final day drawing in some 10,000 participants.
The Tokushima Prefectural Government, which is taking part in the Expo as a member of the Union of Kansai Governments, staged the event under the “World Dance Day” theme.
The dancers, divided into nine groups, showcased their Awa Odori performances on stage in turns. Visitors were captivated by their dynamic and graceful moves synchronized to “Zomeki-bayashi” music played with Japanese flutes, drums and other instruments.
Dancers stage an Awa Odori performance at the World Expo venue in Osaka on May 3, 2025, as people observe the event from the top of the “Grand Ring.” (Mainichi/Yoshihiro Yamamoto)=Click/tap photo for more images.
During the finale on the night of May 3, all the dancers gathered at the Expo Arena “Matsuri,” an outdoor venue which holds 16,000 people, to attempt the largest circle dance in history. As they expanded the circle by involving the audience, it ultimately formed a single large ring, symbolizing the Expo’s iconic wooden structure, the “Grand Ring.” According to the Tokushima Prefectural Government, the number of participants in the dance eventually grew to 10,000.
Minoru Yamada, 71, from the Awa Odori Promotion Association, who also performed at the World Expo in Osaka back in 1970, reflected, “Dance needs no words. Watching it expand and become one big circle was amazing.”
(Japanese original by Yoshihiro Yamamoto, Tokushima Bureau)
AloJapan.com