I didn’t really know what the Matsumoto Bon Bon was but was told that it was the biggest festival in Matsumoto and worth going to watch and maybe dance.  So I went.

So what is the Matsumoto Bon Bon?  Well, Bon means to dance so it is the Matsumoto Dance Dance.  But in reality is part dance competition, part parade, and a big party.

Dance

There is a specific song called the Matsumoto Bon Bon and the song lasts for about 30 minutes, I don’t know what the lyrics say besides Matsumoto Bon Bon.  And there are verses sung by a male and some by a female.

I was told that there would be groups of dancers and that they had a dance routine, I did not realize however that every group dancing did the exact same dance.  Groups of dancers were composed of orginizations, companies, school groups and probably many others.  Each group had a uniform too, some wore tee-shirts or jersey’s but most were wearing summer short men’s yukata (link to Wikipedia). An additional prop of the dance is the fan, each group had their own personalized fan.  The fans are used in the dance.

Street view at an intersection with people dancing in all directions.

Parade

The Bon Bon is also a parade for each group forms a block like a marching band standing in even rows.  Slowly they dance through the downtown streets to the Matsumoto Bon Bon.  Like marching bands in a parade skill at keeping time and staying in line is important for the competition portion of the dance. This particular group was very organized and did the dance in step with one another.

Party

When the song ends there is a small reprive for the dancers before the song and dancing begins again.  With each group there are people with coolers and trash bags on little wagons with refreshments appropriate to age.  Thus all but the children were quickly getting drunk throughout the evening, making the dance more interesting and a little less rigid.

Thousands of people come out to watch the Matsumoto Bon Bon.  Many people dress in Yukata for the day of all different colours.  In addition to the Bon Bon there was also a carnival like atmosphere, with food booths lining the streets as well as games for children.  Though I have lived in Texas and been to the Minnesota State Fair, I have never seen so many kinds of meat on sticks.  Granted I don’t know what most of them were or what they were flavored with.  My favorite, though I did not try it was an entire squid on a stick.