Yosakoi Matsuri — Obiyamachi venue

photo by 663highland · CC BY 2.5

photo by Higa4 · CC0

In 2024, 184 teams and 17,000 dancers: it began in 1954 to fight the post-war crisis.

It began in August 1954 on the initiative of the young members of the Kochi Chamber of Commerce, who wanted something that could stand comparison with Tokushima's Awa Odori and lift a city that had come through wartime bombing, the 1946 Nankai earthquake and a national economic crisis. Every dancer must hold naruko, wooden clappers once used to scare birds away from the rice fields, which became the hallmark of the dance at the wish of the composer Takemasa Eisaku; each team (up to 150 people) dances to its own musical arrangement, which must, however, include the melody of the yosakoi naruko odori. At the 71st festival (2024), 184 teams and about 17,000 dancers paraded across 9 competition stages and 8 performance stages; in 2018 the festival drew about 1.15 million spectators.

It is held every year from 9 to 12 August in the streets of central Kochi, including the Obiyamachi shopping street.

ℹ️ Fixed dates, 9–12 August every year. Venue shown here: the Obiyamachi shopping street, one of the main streets on the route.

🚉 Kōchi · 12 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · city.kochi.kochi.jp

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