Kawachi Ondo

Kawachi Ondo (河内音頭) is a kind of Japanese folk song that originates from Yao City in the old Kawachi region of Japan, now part of modern-day Osaka Prefecture. This song's style and melody are said to have evolved from another folk song called Gōshū Ondo from Shiga Prefecture, known as Goshu in earlier days. Kawachi Ondo accompanies the Bon dance (also known as Bon Odori) in the Osaka/Kawachi region of Japan, however, this song has recently grown in popularity and is often played at other major Bon dances, even in Tokyo. Emmanuelle Loubet writes that Kawachi Ondo has long had a grassroots vitality and that the Kawachi area's association with the working class, yakuza, street fights, rough language, and Buraku communities has likely contributed to the form's close links to community practice rather than being "pasteuriz[ed] for consumption by the masses."