The origin of the Bon Dance goes back to the religious Nenbutsu Dance, where people danced while repeating the name of Amitābha Buddha, but it later became a kind of Furyū dance to be practiced at Obon (annual Buddhist event for commemorating one’s ancestors). Most of them are now far from the original Nenbutsu Dance. In Akita, Bon dances often use local music such as Akita Ondo and sometimes incorporate ritualistic dance and music as saisai and sword music. For Bon dances in the area along the Omonogawa River, the Nishimonai Bon Dance for example, music is played with shamisen (a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instruments) in addition to drums and Japanese flutes. Bon dances in the coastal area are of the Tagujigu-style. The old kind of hand dance is preserved in the Oga area. Finally, Bon dances in the area along the Yoneshiro River are of the simple Dai-no-Saka style, but it is interesting to see that as we go up the river the drums become louder.

Takanosu Bon Dance
Kawakami District Unified Bon Dance
Kemanai Bon Dance
Ōsawa Community Bon Dance
Nagasaki Bon Dance
Kakumagawa Bon Dance
Tanaka Dance
Sannai-Ainono Bon Dance
Hitoichi Bon Dance
Motodate Bon Dance
Ura-Ōmachi Bon Dance
Masuda Bon Dance
Yunomata Bon Dance
Ōsawa Bon Dance
Kosaka Bon Dance (Nanataki District)
Nangai Kamasaka Okesa
Yokote Citizens’ Bon Dance
Ōgida Bon Dance
Iwasaki Bon Dance
Nishimonai Bon Dance
Motoki Bon Dance
Jinego Bon Dance
Daishōji Okesa