Miyakonojo Bonchi Matsuri

The Bonchi Matsuri is the largest festival in Miyakonojo, and a large section of the main road, Route 10, is closed to traffic to allow the large procession of dancers to march down, and also have sections for separate dance groups, and stages.

It is held on the first weekend of August and the majority of performances consist of a large number of dances, both contemporary hip hop style, done by local groups (including many school groups), and also traditional style dances. I was fortunate to be invited to take part in the main local folk style dance, seen in the photo above, by the Miyakonojo International Association.

For the main, traditional style dance procession, local businesses have groups of employees who participate under a banner. For example, the bank will have a group of employees , someone up the front holding a banner with the name of the bank, and behind them, other employees dancing.

Being a Summer festival, there were also plenty of food stalls, and games such as catching goldfish with a little sieve which disintegrates quickly when you try to scoop up the goldfish.

As usual, the festival ended with fireworks!