History of Domatsuri

College students organized the Nagoya College Students Dance Team Shachi, and participated in festivals in Hokkaido and other areas to publicize the dance. Koichi Mizuno, current managing director of the Cultural Foundation, was a leading figure in the realization a college student-run festival.

College students organized a student-run action committee and launched full-fledged publicizing activities for realization of the festival. The activities included appeals to local communities in the Tokai region for participation in the festival. The committee also approached shopping districts such as Hirokoji and Osu with proposals asking them to provide venues and organize dance teams.

The 1st Nippon Domannaka Matsuri was held with 1,500 dancers in 26 dance teams—a new festival was born in mid-summer Nagoya.

Publicizing events were held in Pusan and Seoul, South Korea. That same year, the “Ewha Jazz” dance team from Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, participated in the festival. This was the start of exchanges between Japanese and South Korean college students.

The festival was held in five venues in Nagoya with 54 participating dance teams.

The Nippon Domannaka Matsuri Promotion Board was established to support the Action Committee in publicizing and promoting Domatsuri. At the same time, the board aimed to develop related activities such as promotion, exchanges, training, studies, and welfare promotion.

The Otsu-dori Parade venue which was used for the first time, and eight venues hosted performances of 78 dance teams.

The Caravan Team was organized to promote Domatsuri to 256 municipalities in three prefectures in the Tokai area. The Caravan visited all of the 256 municipalities by 2005.

One hundred five dance teams from inside and outside Japan participated in the event, attracting more than 1.02 million viewers.

Nippon Domannaka Matsuri Promotion Board was reorganized into Nippon Domannaka Matsuri Organization Committee. Kunihiko Okada, Deputy Director of the Nagoya Chamber of Commerce and Industry at that time, assumed the position of Chairperson.

The festival was held in 12 venues in Nagoya, and hosted 160 dance teams.

The number of venues increased to 16, including one in the city of Gifu, the first venue outside Aichi Prefecture. The number of participating dance teams was 160, with about 1.44 million spectators.

About 3,000 dancers participated in Souodori on an apron at Chubu International Airport, or Centrair, which was to be opened the following February, in 2005. The event sent Domatsuri energy from the Chubu area’s new gateway to the world.

Nagoya City and the Nippon Domannaka Matsuri Organization Committee declared that they would collaborate, on an equal basis, in developing the festival as an attraction in Nagoya.

Domatsuri dance teams performed at Nagoya City Week, Aichi Prefecture Week Part 1 and 2, and “Live! Okuni!,” a musical organized by the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition. They presented Aichi’s culture and energy to all of Japan and the world.

The festival was held at 20 venues, including Mikawa Anjo, the first venue in the Mikawa area of Aichi Prefecture. The number of participating dance teams was a record 175, with spectators exceeding 1.97 million.

The festival was held at a record-breaking 24 venues. The Nagoya Food Court, located in Hisaya Odori Koen Park and offering gourmet food unique to Nagoya, had a broad appeal.

Nippon Domannaka Festival Cultural Foundation, or Domatsuri Foundation, was established. Kunihiko Okada, Chairman of the Nagoya Chamber of Commerce and Industry, assumed the position of Chairperson.

The festival was held at 22 venues inside and outside Nagoya. One hundred ninety-seven dance teams participated. In addition to Japanese teams, a Los Angeles-based team, LA BEAT, participated for the first time. Takehisa Matsubara, Mayor of Nagoya, offered a note of appreciation to Saipan Mayor Tudela in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of cultural exchanges with Saipan.

In collaboration with students of Tourism Institute of Beijing Union University, a total of 60 dancers participated in a parade along Wang Fu Jing Avenue. In commemorating the participation, a note of appreciation was received from the Action Committee for the Japan-China Culture and Sports Exchange Year in 2007.