Benkei Matsuri
Japan
- TanabePosted on October 3, 2009 by Stefan
Filed under Gallery, Benkei Matsuri, Matsuri, Tanabe, Yosakoi
This festival is also known as the “Kisyu Yosakoi Odori Benkei” and is held in Tanabe, Wakayama each year in early November. “Yosakoi” is a modern Japanese style of energetic group dance with roots in the traditional Awa Odori.
Yosakoi Festivals are a rather new invention (1954 was the first one in Kochi) but spreading fast! As of 2005 there are now over 200 locations that have yosakoi kind of dancing as part of the festivities and that number is growing quickly. Sendai (a port town couple of hundred kilometers north of Tokyo) hosts the Michinoku Yosakoi Festival and is the third largest festival in Japan in terms of visitors.
Benkei was a legendary Japanese warrior monk and often gets depicted in Kabuki and No dramas and even in some video-games. The “Tokei Jinja” shrine in Tanabe City hosts a statue of him and some of the events of this festival also take place there. I am however not quite sure how the Yosakoi part is connected to this monk. The monk was born in 1155, quite a bit older than Yosakoi traditions.
The festival was quite a lot of fun and i am looking forward to return again to it next year.
Good details. And I do fancy Michinoku Yosakoi too. 8122 under Benkei is very atmospheric.
Richard, I want to go see the one in Kochi in August – Michinoku in Sendai is growing in popularity, but as far as i know the one in Kochi is still the biggest and where Yosakoi started. They have over 10,000 dancers. Just don’t know yet if i will go this year or wait till next year when i will have a better camera