Yosakoi Soran

In the Yosakoi Soran and other matsuri festivals, teams compete in coordinated dancing.

Yosakoi Soran combines the dynamic yosakoi dance of Kochi Prefecture and the music of soran, the traditional folk songs of Hokkaido. This dance gave birth to the popular Yosakoi Soran Performance Festival in Sapporo in the 1980s.

Rhythm, dance and fashion from all over Japan and the world are woven into traditional songs, dance, and costume. This interwoven expression of uneri is based upon the staging format of oki-kudoki-chirashi.

Street dancing performances similar to Yosakoi Soran are growing all over Japan in various ways. In oki, the still figures are visible; in kudoki, the performance becomes violently passionate; and in chirashi, the performers spread out and fill up the streets.