Naha's Festival of 10,000 Eisa Dancers

So, this past weekend we went braved the scorching heat and rediculous parking in Naha to attend the one-day only 10,000 Eisa Dancer Festival!! Let me tell you, it was BALLS hot there. Picture this... it's at least 100 in the shade and NO breeze whatsoever, with about 110% humidity... needless to say, I hope you really enjoy these pictures because there was a lot of sweat and almost some tears by the end of this very hot day...

Ok, enough of the bitching... more about the pics...

So Eisa dancing, according to Wikipedia, is a form of dancing that includes chanting, music, and of course dancing. The groups are often distinguishable by the way they are dressed and represent a different territory here on Okinawa. They have brightly-colored headpieces, often turban-like, and women wear ribbons or other headbands. They play three different drums of varying size from small, medium, to large, and the children will often spin little miniature batons... it's very cute. They apparently do these dances in celebration of Obon, or the celebration of the dead during the summer. If you want to know more than than, google it!

So anywho, we went to Kokosai street in Naha, which is about 20 miles south of Okinawa City, where we live. We took one expressway, one monorail, and walked a few blocks, and there we were. We had an awesome lunch at Halo's brewery, tucked ourselves in front of Starbucks, and watched.

The dancers perfored each of their dance routines at all of the major interesections along the road, which if you can imagine, is like a longer, cleaner, and wider Bourbon Street. It's got tons of trinket and knick-knack shops... a tourists heaven. I felt bad for the little ones that were performing, they were doused with cups of water thrown at them from an adult with a water jug following them... poor little things. And on top of it, at the corner we were standing on, there was a sort of japanese mime dancing along with all of them and making them mess up a little... it was cute.

So I have a video of them but I don't think it will let me post it on here... so I will make a new post with it and just keep an eye out for it!!