Odori Nenbutsu — Dancing Prayer

(draft — to be rewritten from the ledger) In the thirteenth century, the monk Ippen and his followers carried the dancing nenbutsu across the country — prayer performed with the whole body. This form, where prayer and dance became one, is said to have mingled with the Bon rites of the common people and fed the current of Bon Odori. Religion gives birth to dance; dance becomes festival.