Bon Odori 19 July, Matsushita Stadium, Shah Alam

Dance of joy…………….

“Bon Odori originates from the story of a Buddhist disciple who envisioned his deceased mother in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts where she was indulging with her own selfishness. Greatly disturbed, he went to Buddha and ask how he could release his mother from this realm. Buddha ask his disciple to perform some charitable act in memory of his mother. The disciple did this and thus, saw his mother’s release from the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. He also began to see the true nature of her past unselfishness and the many sacrifices that she had made for him. The disciple happy because of his mother’s release and grateful for his mother kindness, danced with joy. From this dance of joy comes Bon Odori or Bon dance, a time in which our ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated.”
- adapted from the internet

“Mareeshiadeno bon odoriwa nihonnoyori motto ookiyo!”. This what was Sumitani sensei told the members of the Cosmos class(June¬Aug2003), few days before we went for the Bon Odori Festival that was held at Stadium Shah Alam Selangor on 17th of July 2003.

Yahari! Like what teacher had said, when we reached there the stadium was packed with thousands of people. Not only the Malaysians and the Japanese but also foreigners from USA, Europe and others part of Asia. There, we can saw many people in traditional Japanese dress, including kimonos, yukata (cotton kimonos) and happi (short coats styled like kimono top). There were also many stalls selling the Japanese food and most of the stalls were crowded with those who wanted to give a try on varieties of Japanese delicacies that were sold. The price offered there were also much cheaper than outside. A platform was built at the middle of the stadium where the band music, taiko (Japanese Performance Drumming) and the lead dancers performed on it. When the clock strikes 7pm, it was the time when the music started and lead by the lead dancers, people started to dance, circling the platform. They kept on dancing for more than 3 hours.

The event then continued with speeches by the organizers from Malaysia and Japan. The big organizer was the Japan Honda company. The event ended with Malaysian dance performance performed by the dancers from Akademi Seni Kebangsaan. We had an enjoyable time dancing at the Bon Odori. Olders and youngers, the West nations people and the East nations people, syachou and syaing.... despite of all the differences, we together dancing and having fun. It made me realized how dancing could actually be a platform to unite the difference of people, and to me, I’m looking forward to come to the next Bon Odori .

Prepared by,
Ferara GG