Dancers in Vietnamese traditional costumes perform Yosakoi, a traditional Japanese summer festival dance. (Photo: VietnamPlus) Hanoi (VNA) – A Vietnamese team named Nui Truc Sakura joined 155 Japanese teams performing Yosakoi, a traditional Japanese summer festival dance at Yosakoi Festival held in Japan’s Kochi city from August 10-11.
The team was invited to join the festival on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan, 70 years of the Yosakoi Festival in Japan.
The team Nui Truc Sakura – the first Yosakoi team in Vietnam is from the Hanoi-based Nui Truc Japanese Language Centre - a member of the Vietnam-Japan Cultural Exchange Association.
According to Japanese media, Yosakoi was born after World War II and is more contemporary than Japanese art that is tens of thousands of years old.
The dance features a strong community character, mixing traditional cultural values with contemporary culture.
Participating in the festival in Japan, the Nui Truc Sakura team performed "Lien Ly Bach Hoa" (Renri Hyakka) taken from “Tam Cam” – an ancient Vietnamese fairy tale. The first part of the tale's plot is very similar to the European folk tale Cinderella. The performance shows a combination of Vietnamese and Japanese characteristics.
Nui Truc Sakura team in Japan. (Photo: VietnamPlus) Notably, Vietnamese dancers wore Vietnamese traditional costumes. Besides Naruko - a kind of Japanese wooden instrument, they also used “Dan Bau” (monochord) - a unique traditional stringed instrument of Vietnam. The Vietnamese team also composed a song based on the original song "Yosakoi Yaruko dance" - the traditional song of the festival.
Director of the Nui Truc Japanese Language Centre Le Ngoc Dinh, said that the dancers are all amateurs, mostly students and young workers.
“Although members of the team are not professional dancers, they are very enthusiastic and excited to promote Vietnamese images to Japanese friends,” Dinh said.
During the two-day festival, the Vietnamese team and Japanese ones performed in front of Kochi City Hall, Chuokoen stage, and marched 5km through ten streets in the province.
The event attracted the attention of not only local politicians but also residents and foreign tourists.
On this occasion, Vietnamese dancers gave Japanese friends gifts including Dong Ho paintings.
Vietnamese dancers give gifts to Japanese friends. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
Yosakoi Festival’s commemorative medal. (Photo: VietnamPlus) | Yosakoi dance was invented after the Second World War when Japan was devastated and suffered difficulty. Therefore, the dance is encouraging, cheerful, and energetic, and targets the community. Everyone at any age can join in dancing it. The costumes used by Yosakoi teams vary widely. Happi coats and Yukata are the most predominant costumes and can be seen in a wide variety of colours. One of the defining aspects of Yosakoi dance is the use of Yaruko - small wooden clappers that are held in the hands of each dancer. Naruko was originally used in Kōchi Prefecture to scare birds away from rice fields. The traditional Naruko has black and yellow beaters on a wooden body, but most modern Yosakoi groups create their Naruko, choosing colors and materials that match their costumes. The use of Naruko is required in Yosakoi dance, but many groups also use other hand-held instruments or props, such as drums, other percussion instruments, flags, batons, and floats. The official Yosakoi dance is based on a song called "Yosakoi Naruko Dancing"./. |
