Gujo Odori

Gujo Odori is not a festival you watch. In the small riverside town of Gujo Hachiman in the Gifu mountains, the summer is given over to roughly thirty nights of street dancing spread from mid-July to early September, each night in a different part of town. A wooden float carries the singers and musicians, and around it the townspeople and visitors dance in a slow-moving ring to a set of traditional dances, learning the steps by following the person in front. Nobody needs a costume, though many rent a yukata and wooden geta, and the rhythm of the clogs on the paving is as much a part of the music as the shamisen.

The peak is the Tetsuya Odori, the four all-night sessions of 13 to 16 August during Obon, when the dancing runs from 20:00 until 04:00 and the town's lanes are packed until dawn. Lodging in Gujo Hachiman for those nights is booked months in advance and the crowds are heavy. An ordinary weeknight in late July has exactly the same dances, the same float and the same welcome, with room to step into the circle without waiting.

The town is reached by bus from Gifu or Nagoya, or by the Nagaragawa Railway. Check the night's venue before you go, since it rotates through the old town's neighbourhoods and shrines, and take the dancing seriously: prizes are awarded to visitors who master the steps. Expect a warm, unhurried night rather than a show, and stay in town if you can, because the last buses leave long before the dancing ends.