Super Yosakoi Festival

Created: Sunday, August 29, 2010

This weekend was a double header of fun and entertainment. After taking in the Asakusa Samba Festival yesterday I trotted up to Omote Sando today to view the annual Super Yosakoi Festival. The Festival was a short 10 minute cab ride from my apartment and was even within walking distance. But as always I left a little later in the day to avoid the heat and humidity so I wanted to get there quickly and not miss too much of the action.

This festival was spread over a pretty large area with groups performing on the street as well as
stage performances in Yoyogi park. The event went from about 12:30 to 4:30 and was filled with non-stop performances. I must have missed the first few group performances but I still got about 2 hours worth of action. This was an incredibly fun event with the performers being more concerned with enjoying themselves than competing, I am not even sure if it was a competition. They ranged in ages from young kids up and even though it was again mostly women, there were quit a number of men performing as well. Here are some clips that I took of the event.


It was incredibly difficult to pick a favorite performance, although some were better than others. One thing that stood out as I was watching the groups perform is how peaceful and tranquil the audience was. Even though there was nothing but tape separating the performers from the spectators no one got carried away and interrupted the performance in anyway. This is one of the aspects of living in Japan that I have quickly grown to love.


Yosakoi (よさこい) is a unique style of dance that originated in Japan. Yosakoi started in the city of Kōchi in 1954, as a modern rendition of Awa Odori, a traditional summer dance. Yosakoi-style dancing has spread throughout much of Japan. The style of dance is highly energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music. The choreographed dances are often performed by large teams. Along with a number of professional yosakoi schools and town dance teams, yosakoi is also a popular event during the sports festivals held by Japanese elementary, junior, and senior high schools. Yosakoi participants include men and women of almost all ages – sometimes within a single team. - Wikipedia


I think the video clips tell a much better story than I can possibly try to, so enjoy.



I will be uploading pictures soon. I have tons to sort through.

Here are the links to the individual video clips:
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