Yosakoi Soran Festival

We went downtown last week to look at the Sapporo Yosakoi Soran Festival.  This is a huge festival in Sapporo.  Yosakoi is a traditional Japanese dance.  Soran Bushi is one of the most famos traditional songs in Japan.  Soran Bushi originates in Hokkaido.

I took the photos above from behind the stage in Odori park during the festival.  It was fascinating to watch the participants before and after their stage time.  They would rush around the edge of the green space behind the stage in a half crouch.  I think the reason for the crouch was so that they would not get in the way of a photographer trying to capture the performances.  Many of the groups we saw were mixed ages with kids and adults dancing together.  It looked like a lot of fun.

I saw this ridiculously oversized motorcycle at the festival.

We returned to the festival on Saturday 6/9/2012 (in Japan the date is written 2012-6-9) with Bre's family who are visiting from North Carolina.  We saw this group being interviewed by a TV crew before competing.

The groups we watched followed a parade route around the edges of Odori Park.  In front of each group was a truck with speakers and a singer who would play music and lead the group through their performance.  There were a series of stands around the route where each group would perform.  In this photo you can see one of the green shirt festival organizers directing the truck where to stop to begin the next performance.

I didn't get any decent photos of this group dancing but I really liked this image of the man and little girl  following along after the performers.  I don't know what the meaning of the lantern is.  Does anybody know why he is carrying the lantern after the dancers?  If so please let us know by posting in the comments section.

This group of dancers didn't have matching costumes, which is unusual.  Most of the groups had matching costumes.  What their costumes lacked in unity they made up for in originality.  If you look closely you will notice there is a guy with an orange wig in on the team.  I enjoyed their dancing.

This group had two types of dancers.  They started with this group of women dressed in red and white with the large hats.  Their dance was old fashioned and included slow movement and small gestures.  After they had danced for a minute or two the other half of the team ran up with their bright purple costumes and modern dance moves.

This guy was carrying a banner that was used as a backdrop.

There were also often flag wavers at the end of each dance group.  Their flags were huge and at times I thought they might be blow away in the wind.  They were exciting to watch.

Here you can see one of the trucks that was leading one of the teams.  I was surprised to see one of the staff lean out of a tiny door on the side of the truck.  It is like looking behind the curtain and seeing the wizard in the Wizard of Oz.

After the Yosakoi Soran Festival we stopped by the Hokkodai Sai Festival at Hokkaido University.  We got some tasty treats including meat on a stick and bubble tea.

Many of the people manning the boothes dressed up in fun costumes.

Here is a photo of Bre followed by her parents enjoying the sights of Hokkodai Sai.

There were lots of students passing out flyers or trying to talk you into supporting their organization and/or buying from their booth.  I like this photo of the hawkers hawking to other hawkers.  You can see the group of girls passing out three flyers to the same two boys.  If you look closely you will also notice that the boys are carrying signs, so they are also at Hokudai Sai representing their organization.

That's all for now.

-Kyle (and Bre)