Hiroshima Bon Dance

Bon-odori are community dances, usually performed around a tall platform from which music plays and people sometimes play instruments and sing, held during the bon festival of the dead, usually held in the middle of August. It is a little known fact that just a year after the A-bombing of Hiroshima, survivors held a bon-odori on the day after the first anniversary of the bombing.

The event was recently revived over 70 years after it was originally held. It returns again “after” the pandemic on August 13 and 14. Everyone is welcome to join this event which both remembers those who were lost in the bombing and to celebrate the hope in the center of the recovered and vibrant modern city.

The event will be held at Minato Koen, the park in front of Hiroshima Port in Ujina.

There is no parking for the event so participants are encouraged to take public transport. Dress in yukata and ride the tram (one way) to Ujina for free!