Monday 7 June 2021

The Yosakoi Soran Festival

 ●YOSAKOI Soran Festival


I will introduce the Yosakoi Soran Festival in Sapporo. Have you ever seen this festival? This is held in Odori park every June. A lot of people with Naruko clappers dance  to the melody of soran bushi. 



The Yosakoi Soran Festival’s root is the Yosakoi festival in Kouchi Prefecture. In 1992, this festival was started by blending Yosakoi festival’s Naruko clappers and Hokkaido's soran bushi folk song. 


There are only two dance rules at the Yosakoi Soran Festival. The first is dancing with Naruko clappers. Originally, Naruko clappers were used in fields to drive birds away by these sounds. The other is using phrases of soran bushi in music. Soran bushi is one of the folk songs in Hokkaido. This was a work song which was sung by fishermen when they were herring fishing. They pulled the rope to shout “Yaren Soran”. 



When the Yosakoi Soran Festival started, only 10 teams joined. However, there are 30,000 participants and  2,000,000 audiences now. And, some participants come from outside of Hokkaido and abroad such as America, Brazil and Russia.



This year, the Yosakoi Soran Festival will be canceled because of COVID-19. So, why don’t you see or join this festival when the COVID-19 calms down? You will enjoy and make good memories in Sapporo!!




reference:YOSAKOIソーラン祭り 公式ホームページ (yosakoi-soran.jp)

            Homepage of YOSAKOI Soran Festival 

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