Nikka Yuko to play host to first-ever Yosakai Festival Saturday

By Lethbridge Herald on September 25, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden will host a first of its kind event in North America this coming weekend.

The North American International Yosakoi Festival will take place on Saturday. The festivities begin with the opening parade at 9:30 a.m. and conclude with the award ceremony and closing dance beginning at 6 p.m.

Eric Granson, marketing and sales manager for Nikka Yuko, says there is plenty of excitement to host the event in Lethbridge.

“It’s a form of traditional dance using modern music,” says Granson. “They’ve been running these competitions in Japan since the 1950s and so this is an international version of it where it’s grown to the point where it’s very popular. They have these international dance tournaments throughout the world and they’ve had them in Japan in the U.S. and this is Canada’s first ever one and it’s coming to Lethbridge here at the (Nikka Yuko Japanese) Garden so we’re really excited.”

According to the festival’s website, dancers are dressed in colorful costumes. The festival is open to all ages, with children and adults both being able to participate in the event.

Yosakoi Festivals began in the Kochi Prefecture in 1954 as a symbol of reconstruction following the Second World War.  Dancers carry a small wooden instrument known as a Naruko, which was originally designed as a tool to scare birds away during farm work. In Yasokoi, the Naruko is an important symbol and all dancers carry one. 

Dancers from all across Canada, the United States and Japan will be making the trip to Lethbridge to attend the festival. Granson says he hopes it will open the door to Lethbridge hosting similar events in the future. 

“It’s really just our direct tie with the Japanese community and all the other Japanese Canadians here in Southern Alberta and Canada in general. It makes sense that it is coming here due to the fact of the population and culture that supports it here. I really think that this would be wonderful to get it started, to bring more of these cultural type of events to Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. I feel the opportunities are endless for future things like that.”

The festival will be open to the public, with performances taking place both inside the garden and outside the venue.

“There are some free performances in the green space between the Bunka Centre and the garden itself is a stage that will be located there.” Says Granson . “Those performances will be free to the public. However, there is also a stage inside the Garden as well. There’ll be some more high-end or high-key performances located in that space and that would require admission. I like to compare it to if you go watch the regular season in hockey or anything like that, that’s the green space. If you want to watch the playoffs, it’s at the garden.”