The large Yosakoi Festival in Kochi City on August 9-12th
is 65 years old and was celebrating this milestone with a performance by a military air-force group. The jets swirled around the city in passes and loops
creating designs in the sky. It only lasted about half an hour but it was amazing to see the crowds forming in the streets for it. These guys must be really famous in Japan.
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| Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
This special performance was at the exact time that last
years winners of the dance competition were performing on stage in the central
park. I wish it had been earlier in the day so that I could have watched both
but since I knew I would get to see the winners perform during the festival I
chose to watch the special performance.
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| Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
Fireworks
along the Kagami River started in the evening but we
got there around 5-6ish just to get a seat in the area that we had
gotten free
tickets for (everyone can get free tickets if they wait in line around
1om the
day of the event – otherwise you are standing along the road without a
place to
sit). The fireworks display on the first night after the winners from
the previous year perform is how they normally open the festival every
year. All of the
Japanese people were so prepared with mats to reserve their spots and
picnic
dinners for during the fireworks. Festival food and drink is quite
pricey
compared to even restaurants.
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| Festival area with food stands at Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
The fireworks lasted an hour and a half and were the largest
fireworks show that I had ever seen. I am still really not good at taking
photos of fireworks and without a tripod it is very very difficult but I think I am getting a bit better since these are a moderate improvement to the ones from the Tosayamada River Festival.
The second day of the festival there is dancing all day in various locations within the center of the city. We arrived in the late
afternoon and watched mostly from the Obiyamabachi covered shopping street
since the central park stage was very crowded. Like at the Tosayamada Yosakoi,
the dancers followed large trucks playing the music down the street. Costumes
were colourful and moves were somewhat similar but still varied between groups,
which all had different remixes to the yosakoi song.
They hand out fans with advertisements and the team name on
them to bystanders. Some of them are real bamboo but most are just plastic and
paper. People end up with large collections of the fans. I am not exactly sure why they want so many. Some can be quite pretty with photos of the dancers in costume but others literally just say the name of the group or funding party.
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| Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
A few teams were accompanied by drummers but one team had a large drum on the truck that was playing it's music.
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| Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
The second day I visited the Kochi Station and Kochi Castle locations. These areas were much more open and you could have a great view of the
dancers and see the entire performance.
I do like both the Obiyamabachi market and the Kochi Castle stage the most because
they have a very different atmosphere. The stage allows you a good view and you
see the entire dance but the market is very casual and parade like with the
downside of only seeing a part of the dance.
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| Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
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| Team Honiya- Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
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| Team Honiya- Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
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| Team Honiya- Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
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| Team Honiya- Kochi Yosakoi Festival |
The winners overall was a Kochi team called Honiya. They are apparently the winners every year and some people say
that even though other teams do better they still win. It might be a bit sided
to sponsors of the actual event.
The Yamakin Team, which was one of my favorites were among the winners. All of the teams that one had amazing dances and most also had interesting costumes or something unique in their music, costume or dance. 
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