Kochi · City CentreNo.1192★★Open in map →
Yosakoi Festival
— Kochi's four-day August dance contest
Kochi's August dance festival, four days long and spread across the city centre, from an eve programme in Central Park to the national contest that closes it. Teams dance in the street behind trucks of speakers, and most venues are free to watch.
- FromKochi Station
- ~15 minTram, 2 stops from Kochi Station
- Get off atHasuikemachi-dori tram stop (Tosaden Kotsu)
- On foot
- Yosakoi Festival
The sweet spot
This is the opposite of a hidden spot. The city fills up and rooms book out well ahead. What is less obvious is that reserved seating exists only at the main sites: at most venues you can stand at the barrier for nothing, and the smaller neighbourhood sites are where the dancers pass closest to the crowd.
Where it is
18 more notes in Kochi · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Kochi Castle performance sitethe westernmost venue, on the castle forecourt at the head of Otesuji avenue
- Otesuji headquarters competition sitethe main venue on Otesuji avenue, where judging happens and grandstands are built
- Obiyamachi arcade venuea covered shopping arcade where teams dance under a roof, useful in rain or hard sun
- Toyo Denka Central Park sitethe park venue that holds the eve and closing programmes, with its own reserved seating
- Harimayabashi venuethe eastern site beside the city's landmark bridge, next to the tram interchange
How to actually get there
- Kochi Station → Hasuikemachi-dori (Tosaden tram, Ekimae line, 2 stops).
- Hasuikemachi-dori → Toyo Denka Central Park (walk southwest, about 4 min).
- Central Park → Otesuji headquarters site (walk north to the avenue, then follow it west).
- Tram from Kochi Station
- Kochi Station →(Tosaden tram, Ekimae line, 2 stops)→ Hasuikemachi-dori, then about 4 minutes on foot southwest to Central Park. If the trams are packed, the same trip is a flat walk of roughly 15 minutes straight from the station. During the festival some streets close to traffic, so follow the marshals rather than your map.
- Back to Kochi Station
- The same tram line runs back to Kochi Station from Hasuikemachi-dori. Evening sessions at the main venue finish late, while trams and JR trains both stop before the small hours, so settle your last departure before you settle into a spot. Walking back to the station is the reliable fallback: it is flat the whole way.
About the place
Yosakoi runs every August across 16 competition and performance sites spread through central Kochi. Around 200 teams and some 20,000 dancers take part, each team moving as a block behind a jikatasha, a truck loaded with speakers and a live caller that sets the tempo. The rules are famously thin: dancers must carry naruko clappers and keep moving forward, and the music must quote a phrase of the song Yosakoi Naruko Odori. Everything else is left open, which is why one team can arrive dressed like a rock band and the next like a feudal procession.
How to enjoy it
The eve programme fills Central Park on 9 August, opening with a safety rite from around 17:00 before the first teams dance. The two main days, 10 and 11 August, run an afternoon session and a longer evening session at each venue, and the evening is when the lit sound trucks carry furthest. The national contest and the closing programme take 12 August, so even one night in the city will show you a full session.
Background & history
The first Yosakoi was held in 1954, put together by Kochi's business community to lift a city still short of money and short of cheer. The naruko that dancers carry were originally bird-scarers from the rice fields, taken up as a hand instrument so that a whole block of people could keep time together. From that one device the form spread far beyond Kochi, and teams now travel in from across Japan, and sometimes from abroad, for the national contest on the closing day.
Before you go
- Cash
- Watching from the street costs nothing at most venues. Reserved grandstand seats at the Otesuji headquarters site and at Central Park are sold in advance through ticket websites and convenience stores rather than at the gate, so they need arranging before you arrive. Stalls along the route are cash-first.
- Before you go
- Early August in Kochi is hot and humid and the street venues have almost no shade, so water and a hat matter more than a good camera. Sudden evening rain can pause a session. The list of venues and the teams assigned to each is rebuilt every year, so read the current programme rather than an older map.
- Another way
- Harimayabashi, where the north-south and east-west tram lines cross, puts every central venue within walking distance and suits you better if you are coming from the south of the city or straight off the airport bus.
- After you get off
- From Hasuikemachi-dori tram stop, walk southwest for about 4 minutes and cross Otesuji avenue to reach Central Park. During the festival the crossing points are controlled, so allow extra time after dark.