The dance spectacle the Awa Odori takes place in Tokushima, the city to the south of Mure, where I have a studio. For three nights in the middle of August the dance flows down the streets, wave after wave of the most spectacular dancers of the Bon Festival. The rims of their straw hats tied beneath their chins make all women beautiful, dancing on the points of their sandals in formal formation, while the men display the most abandoned violence and skill.