Hanagasa Ondo is a folk song from Yamagata prefecture

Yamagata Prefecture

-Fruit:Yamagata Prefecture is the largest producer of cherries and pears in Japan. A large quantity of other kinds of fruits such as grapes, apples, peaches, melons, persimmons and watermelons are also produced.- Demographics :...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The name literally means "flower straw-hat song." It accompanies a local community dance called the "Hanagasa Odori." (花笠踊り)

The song is in typical swung ondo

Ondo (music)

is a type of Japanese folk music genre.- Etymology and description:The literal translation of "ondo" is "sound head." Kanji, or the Chinese characters used in the Japanese language, often have literal and abstract meanings, here the kanji for "sound" having a more abstract meaning of "melody" or...

 rhythm, and features a kakegoe

Kakegoe

Kakegoe can be literally translated as "hung voice" or "a voice you hang." The "hanging" part is probably meant to be taken in an abstract sense to mean "ornament" or "decoration," as it is the same Japanese verb used when talk about kakemono. Kakegoe, therefore, refers to an auxiliary pitched or...

found in no other song; "Ha Yassho Makkasho!" The dance is performed with a simple straw hat decorated with synthetic flowers. It is usually performed by women, but men can also join in. The dance movements are different for each gender.