Kochi's Yosakoi Matsuri (よさこい祭り) runs from Sunday, August 9 to Wednesday, August 12, 2026. This is the 73rd edition.
Teams dance their way through venues scattered across the city, clacking naruko (鳴子), the small wooden clappers every dancer holds. Kochi sits on the Pacific side of Shikoku, and by the city's own account this is where Yosakoi started before spreading nationwide.
If you only have one day, make it August 10 or 11. Those are the two days when dancers are out across the whole city. The final day, August 12, narrows to four sites: Kochi Castle, Otesuji, Obiyamachi and Chuo Park. August 9 is the eve festival plus a fireworks show.
Paid seating at the Otesuji main venue starts at ¥1,000 for a daytime general seat, and same-day tickets exist only if advance sales leave anything unsold. The one venue where the organizers mention food stalls is Kochi Station-mae, on August 10 and 11. For how Japanese summer festivals work in general, see A Guide to Japanese Summer Festivals (Matsuri) in 2026: Food Stalls, Yukata, Etiquette, and Where to Go.
The 2026 festival at a glance
Name | 73rd Yosakoi Matsuri |
|---|---|
Dates | August 9 (Sun) – August 12 (Wed), 2026 |
Where | Competition and performance venues across Kochi City |
Paid seating at dance venues | Otesuji main venue grandstand / Chuo Park eve- and closing-festival seats (the latter listed as 予定枚数終了 — allocation finished — on July 31) |
If you came in a previous year: the Asahi performance venue (旭演舞場) is sitting out 2026.
Day-by-day: venues and times
Sunday, August 9 — eve festival and fireworks
The Tosa student Yosakoi competition runs 11:00–15:00 at Kochi Castle. The Toyo Denka Chuo Park competition venue — Chuo Park from here on — opens at 17:00 with a ceremony to pray for a safe festival, and the eve festival runs 18:00–21:30.
The 76th Kochi City Fireworks Festival runs 19:45–21:00 the same evening on the banks of the Kagami River. It overlaps the eve festival, so August 9 means choosing one or the other.
Both August 9 evening events need a ticket bought in advance, and as of July 31 the eve-festival seats were listed as 予定枚数終了 (allocation finished) at the seller.
The eve festival has its own reserved seating at Chuo Park, on sale from 10:00 on July 5 through Lawson Ticket. As of July 31, 2026, Lawson Ticket lists both the eve and closing festival seats as 予定枚数終了 (allocation finished). That wording does not say whether the seats sold out or the sales window simply closed. Whether you can watch without a ticket is not addressed anywhere official.
For the fireworks, the Kochi City Tourist Association is explicit: the viewing site is ticket-only, and there are no free seats. Tickets went on sale at 15:00 on June 25, 2026, through the association's website (membership registration required) and Seven-Eleven in-store terminals (P-code 660-944).
Pricing varies by when you book. No end date is published, but the association notes that sales finish once tickets are gone, and as of July 31 it had not published how many were left.
The price list is posted only as an image, so check the ticket page below for the actual figures.
In severe weather the fireworks move to the same time on August 13. If the 13th is stormy as well, they are cancelled outright.
If you cannot get either ticket, the student competition at Kochi Castle earlier in the day is the one other thing on the official schedule, and no admission charge is listed for it.
Official ticket information: Kochi City Tourism Association
Monday, August 10 and Tuesday, August 11 (a public holiday) — the main festival
Hours vary a lot by venue, so read the table before you plan a route.
Obiyamachi performance venue | 11:00–22:00 |
|---|---|
Chuo Park competition venue | 11:30–22:00 |
Kochi University venue (Asakura campus) | 11:30–14:30 |
Otesuji main venue | Daytime 13:15–17:15 / Evening 17:45–21:30 |
Yanagimachi performance venue | August 11 only, 17:00–21:30 (local teams) |
The other eleven venues — Kamimachi (上町), the Masugata district venue (升形地域競演場), Mama (万々), Atago, Saenba, Umenotsuji, Harimayabashi and Kochi Station-mae, plus Kyomachi, Hata and Kochi Castle — all run 12:30–21:30.
Kochi University's venue ends at 14:30, so it is a morning stop or nothing. On the evening of the 11th, Mama is scheduled to hold its sō-odori (総踊り) — the mass dance everyone joins — from a little after 20:30, and the Masugata district venue from 21:00.
Wednesday, August 12 — national competition and closing festival
The opening ceremony is at 12:30 at Kochi Castle. The national competition runs 13:00–18:00 at Chuo Park and 13:15–22:00 at Otesuji, Obiyamachi and Kochi Castle. Awards and the closing festival follow at Chuo Park from 18:30.
Harimayabashi, Saenba, Kochi Station-mae and the other venues — including Hata at Aeon Mall Kochi — are not on the schedule for the 12th.
Otesuji grandstand seats: prices and deadlines
Otesuji is where the awards are judged, and the grandstand holds roughly 2,700 seats. It is a 15-minute walk south of JR Kochi Station, or 8 minutes west of the Hasuikemachidori tram stop.
General seat (daytime) | B ¥1,000 / A ¥2,000 |
|---|---|
General seat (evening) | B ¥2,000 / A ¥3,000 |
Wheelchair area (daytime) | B ¥500 / A ¥1,000 |
Wheelchair area (evening) | B ¥1,000 / A ¥1,500 |
Parasol seat (one table for four) | ¥15,000 per part / ¥25,000 through-ticket |
Group area (one block) | ¥30,000 per part / ¥50,000 through-ticket |
Parasol seats and group areas are sold by part: the daytime splits into 13:15–15:05 and 15:25–17:15, the evening into 17:45–19:30 and 19:45–21:30. A through-ticket covers both parts, priced separately for day and for evening.
Sales opened at 10:00 on June 29, 2026. General seats are handled by Ticket Pia, Lawson Ticket and e-plus, but wheelchair areas, parasol seats and group areas can only be bought through Ticket Pia's dedicated page or at Seven-Eleven. The pages for these seats are in Japanese only. Once you book, there are no changes and no refunds.
Deadlines differ by seller. Ticket Pia closes at 17:45 on August 12. On e-plus, August 10 and 11 seats close at 23:59 on August 9, and August 12 seats at 23:59 on August 11.
Lawson Ticket has not published a deadline, so check on their sales page before buying.
As of July 31, 2026, e-plus had the August 11 evening session down as sold out; the other sessions were still open.
The Tourist Association will say only that same-day tickets go on sale "if advance tickets remain." No location or time is given. Do not travel to Kochi on the assumption you can buy at the gate.
Marked-up resales turned up in early July 2026, and the Yosakoi Festival Promotion Association (よさこい祭振興会) has warned people about them.
Light rain does not stop the festival. The grandstand has no roof, so bring rain gear, and the association asks people not to put umbrellas up. No cancellation cutoff or announcement method is published, so check on the day.
At the venue, tripods left standing, selfie sticks, shooting from the walkways, drones, smoking and pets are all prohibited.
Official page: Kochi City Tourism Association
Watching without a grandstand seat
Otesuji and Chuo Park are the only two venues with a published admission charge. Dancing goes on at venues all across the city; the organizers just do not say whether those venues charge admission.
They also say nothing about whether saving a spot in advance is allowed. Kochi in August is punishing, so the shaded venues are the ones to aim for.
- Hata: on the grounds of Aeon Mall Kochi, with shade tents and accessible seating
- Harimayabashi and Saenba: viewing from inside covered shopping arcades
- The Masugata district venue: naruko lent out in limited numbers
Food stalls: Kochi Station-mae only (August 10–11)
The organizers' venue guide describes stalls selling local food around Kochi Station-mae — the only venue where the official site mentions food at all. That venue only has dancing on August 10 and 11, from 12:30 to 21:30.
August 12 is not on its schedule, so going there for stalls on the 12th means no dancing either. For every other venue, the organizers say nothing either way about food.
Pick a venue near the restaurants of Obiyamachi, or near Hirome Market, the covered food hall where the Obiyamachi dancing starts. Or just eat before you go.
Getting to Kochi and moving around
Kochi Ryoma Airport is the city's airport, and its own access guide puts JR Kochi Station 17 km away — about 35 minutes by car.
The Kochi Station-mae venue sits immediately south of JR Kochi Station. Chuo Park is a 15-minute walk south from the station, or 3 minutes west of the Harimayabashi tram stop.
From August 10 to 12, a wide area of central Kochi closes to vehicles from early afternoon into the night. The hours and the affected dates vary by section, and the street names appear only on the official map. Check where your hotel sits relative to the venues before you travel.
Traffic restriction map (August 10, 11 and 12): Google Map
Kochi Prefectural Police had not posted their notice for the 73rd festival as of July 31, 2026. Check their site before you leave.
Tosaden Kotsu (とさでん交通) runs extra trams on August 10 and 11, but the Kochi Station-mae–Masugata service is suspended on the 10th.
The MY-YU sightseeing bus (MY遊バス) moves its JR Kochi Station stop to bay 5 of the Kochi Station bus terminal from August 6 to 12, and warns that delays of 30 minutes or more are possible from the 10th to the 12th.
Two ways to dance in the festival yourself
Both run on August 10 and 11.
Attaka Kochi Odoriko-tai (あったか高知踊り子隊)
A team put together mainly for people coming from outside Kochi Prefecture. You assemble at the plaza in front of Kochi City Hall — not at Masugata, which is just where you start dancing.
Registration is at 17:00, practice starts around 17:15, and you set off on foot at 18:40, dancing at the Masugata district venue, Kochi Castle and Otesuji before returning to City Hall around 22:00.
There are 150 places per day (120 by advance booking, 30 on the day). Entry is ¥5,000 for adults and ¥3,500 for elementary-school children and younger, with ¥500 off if you bring your own naruko.
Booking is by phone (088-823-5941) or fax (088-824-2048) only, which is a real hurdle from overseas. If the event is cut short or called off for weather, the fee is explicitly non-refundable.
Shimin-kensho Yosakoi Odoriko-tai (市民憲章よさこい踊り子隊)
Free to join, with no advance booking. Registration opens around 14:00 on the day at the cafeteria of Kochi Otemae High School. You need to bring naruko. If you do not have a pair, you can put one together at the Naruko Kobo Kodakasa (鳴子工房こだかさ) workshop near the registration desk. It costs ¥1,500 including tax and takes about 15 minutes.
The group dances at Otesuji around 17:00, the Obiyamachi arcade around 18:30, and the Chuo Park stage around 19:30. Children of elementary-school age and under need an accompanying adult, and you can join partway or leave early.
Official page: Kochi City, participant registration
Pairing Yosakoi with Tokushima's Awa Odori
Tokushima's Awa Odori opens on August 11, with street dancing from the 12th to the 15th — see Awa Odori Tokushima 2026: Tickets, Dates, and Paid vs Free Viewing.
Obon begins on August 13, so lock in hotels and limited-express seats first if you are heading east across Shikoku. Obon 2026 in Japan (Aug 13–16): Crowds, Trains & What Actually Stays Open covers what that means for travel.
This article was translated from the original Japanese with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team. The Japanese version is authoritative.
