Yosakoi is a high-energy, anything-goes style of Japanese dance. It began in 1954 in Kochi, a small prefecture in southwestern Japan, as a way to lift people’s spirits — and the local economy — during the postwar years. There are really only two rules: dancers hold naruko (small wooden clappers) and the music must quote the local folk song “Yosakoi-bushi.” Everything else is open. Teams mix traditional instruments with rock, pop, samba, and electronic music, design their own costumes, and choreograph their own routines.
In seventy years it has grown from one local festival into more than 200 across Japan, with teams now in 29 countries. The spirit is simple: anyone can dance — regardless of age, gender, nationality, or experience.
A short history
The first Yosakoi festival was held in Kochi City in 1954, organized by the local chamber of commerce to revive a community worn down by the postwar years and to compete with neighbouring Tokushima’s famous Awa Odori. The naruko — wooden clappers once used to scare birds away from rice fields — were given to dancers and became the dance’s enduring signature. Over the following decades, teams began blending the traditional “Yosakoi-bushi” melody with rock, pop, and other modern sounds, and the dance steadily grew bolder, bigger, and more creative.
Yosakoi today
The Kochi Yosakoi Festival, held every August in the dance’s birthplace, remains its heart. At the 71st festival in 2024, roughly 190 teams and 20,000 dancers performed for close to a million spectators. More than 200 Yosakoi festivals now take place across Japan each year, and teams have formed in 29 countries — making Yosakoi one of Japan’s most vibrant living traditions.
The YOSAKOI Soran Festival (Hokkaido)
In 1992, a group of students in Sapporo combined Kochi’s Yosakoi with Hokkaido’s traditional fishing song “Soran-bushi” to create the YOSAKOI Soran Festival. Held every June, it has since grown into one of Japan’s largest festivals, drawing tens of thousands of dancers and millions of visitors, and it did much to spread the Yosakoi style across the country. Songs born from this festival — such as “Yocchore” — are now danced at Yosakoi events worldwide, including KOKUYOSA.
The four elements
- Naruko — wooden clappers that set the rhythm in every dancer’s hands.
- Costumes — from kimono-inspired to boldly original.
- Music — Yosakoi-bushi reworked with everything from taiko to EDM.
- The dance — large teams moving as one, built around formation and energy.
The two rules
For all its freedom, Yosakoi keeps just two rules: dancers carry naruko, and the music must include a phrase of a local folk song — “Yosakoi-bushi” from Kochi or “Soran-bushi” from Hokkaido. Everything else — the music, the costumes, the choreography — is entirely up to each team.