what do you see?

A couple of pictures from the Susukino yosakoi soran site tonight. We watched a few teams, until it started raining quite a lot. That added a lot to the atmosphere, it was actually very exciting and interesting to watch. Teams always have a few members waving flags, and some teams have huge flags supported on a very thick bamboo pole. I hadn't realised how heavy they were until I saw someone hoisting one up with a huge effort and then running around in circles doing his best to wave it and yelling to keep his energy and adrenalin up. It was pretty impressive.
I've finally found out more about the background too - I knew that the Yosakoi dance comes from Kochi in Shikoku, but the Hokkaido version adds a traditional Hokkaido folk-song called "Soran bushi" which apparently all teams must include in their music, although the music can be almost any style (some purists don't like this part I think). They also all have to use a certain type of castanet like thing.