🏮 Tsukuda no Bon Odori

佃の盆踊り

Chuo, Tokyo (Tsukuda Park) · Every year on 13 July

Bon odori

302 days to go
Rooms around Chuo, Tokyo fill up while the festival is on.

The Tsukuda Island Bon Dance, held at Tsukuda Park in Chuo Ward, Tokyo (next to Tsukudakobashi Bridge), is a traditional bon dance organized by the Tsukuda Island Bon Dance Preservation Society and designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Tokyo. It has been performed in Tsukuda since the Edo period and originally began as an event to mourn and memorialize those who died with no living relatives to care for their graves. To the monotonous drum rhythm and dance songs played beneath the lanterns on the scaffold, dancers quietly repeat a back-and-forth movement. The dance, with its air of melancholy and impermanence, is valued as a precious folk performance that strongly preserves traces of Edo. Held in September, this festival is a chance to experience a quiet tradition directly on Tsukuda Island in the city.

Getting there

The nearest station is Tsukishima Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line and Toei Oedo Line, about a 10-minute walk away. Alternatively, get off at the Toei Bus stop Tsukuda 1-chome and walk about 1 minute.