A dance craze called the “Fūryū-odori” where people danced while wearing eccentric clothes was all the rage among the masses of the Muromachi Period. “Fūryū” means “elegance,” which in this period meant flashy and eye-catching. Why did this craze come about? Back then, epidemics were commonplace. Amidst the confusion of how to recover, people believed that the sickness was a curse from a malicious god. Thus they danced, in order to quell the illness.

The Fūryū-odori spread across the country, and beyond inspiring various performing arts, it is also said it formed the model for the modern Bon-Odori dance.