Bentenya

Bentenya is one of the few professional female chindon-ya in Nagoya, a kind of marching band dedicated to street advertising who also perform at events or matsuri. Dressed in a kimono, each member of Bentenya has bright-colored hair. They play classical chindon-ya instruments, bells and two taiko (drums), a small one and a bigger one, as well as another big taiko (gorosu), a saxophone, and an accordion, for the melody. On stage or in the streets, they sing and dance with fans or umbrellas. They sing Japanese folk songs, as well as enka, J-pop, anime or international titles, to allow everyone to enjoy it.

Since it was created in 2008, Bentenya has won several prizes as amateurs, before starting as professionals in 2011. The band also won the Chindon national contest in 2015 and is getting more a more widely known, also attracting the media’s attention. In 2014, they promoted the Nagoya Parco mall, and performed in theatre plays. Since 2015, they have started to perform abroad, like at Milan’s World’s Fair last August. Last February, they played to full houses in Nagoya: Bentenya is bringing chindon-ya back into fashion and making it popular to an ever-growing audience.

There’s no doubt their success will be confirmed at Japan Expo: don’t miss their show on stage and enjoy meeting them in the alleys of the festival for a real Japanese experience and loads of merriness!

Chindon-ya was born over a century ago as a way of street advertising. To the music of bells and taiko, chindon-ya bands walk the streets to promote stores or products. The sound of bells, "chin", and the sound of taiko, "don", gave its name to chindon.

60 years ago, chindon-ya was at its best and used to advertise many a store for many occasions, such as the opening of a new store, sales, or new collections. There aren’t as many chindon-ya nowadays but they’re still very active at events or matsuri.