Yakyuken is a stylized form of jan-ken-pon (scissors-paper-rock) using baseball umpire signals like, ’strike, safe’ throwing and batting movements. Being just along the coast from Tokushima, its been developed into a mass street dance very much along the lines of the Awa Odori fools dance which can be anything from sweet, charming and serene (think infants to geriatric old kimonoed ladies) to sexy, raucous and insane (think young hot chicks to taiko driven taekwondo groups) depending on who is dancing it. The basic moves and riff are here; http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=j2lE6ubV-KY&NR=1 but check the final event below.

Having spent months wondering what all those kids were doing working out dancing routines to the windows of shops in the local mall, (as there are only so many boy or girl band to audition for) I now know. It was in preparation for the 松山まつり where for three nights upto 5,000 folks at a time got out and shook their booties in a very touching local festival. Its great to see, in this day and age, a community get out together breaking all barriers of age and position, and very obviously have fun together.

I am not sure how and when in history baseball merged with the Fools Dance, its one for the anthropologists to work out, but its seems to be quite local to Matsuyama. One of the nights took it even further and made it into ‘Kakyuken Samba’ (http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=1L-uKtiww6I ) which might have lacked an absolute Latin sensuality was not far behind it and blew any impression of Japan as a stuffy, conservative and uptight society away. I cant understand Japan’s fascination with baseball but it goes back to the 19th century.

All the big banks and companies had teams out competing, bosses out in little white hot pants and tabi boots making fools of themselves, literally hundreds of women chanting in beautiful colorful matching kimonos … and that endless, endless irritating but hypnotic rhythm. As usual, the crowd was wonderful. All the folks at the front took their shoes off to sit on prepared blue plastic sheets so those behind could see. Infants were left to run free on street with most groups having “sweepers” to catch the lost ones at the end. And it was all cleared away in minutes in military precision. No drunks, no fights, no attitudes.

Here are a few links I pulled at random.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ocDNAz9IrsA&NR=1
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=zUUWwFghxCA

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=O36I2OsSps8
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdkLq_mmtg

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=pBCMuU72A4I&NR=1