Soran Bushi Dance Trend Moves From Elementary Schoolers to Idol Groups on TikTok
A school-event standard that assumed everyone danced the same steps is now circulating as a short-video format where each user varies the choreography, and idol groups are picking it up from an elementary schooler's post rather than from a stage or a broadcast.
Reporting from 1 source: KAI-YOU.
A dance video posted by an elementary school student under the title 'Soran Bushi Jiyukei' has driven a TikTok trend set to TAKIO'S SOHRAN 2, the 1998 Ito Takio and TAKIO BAND arrangement of the Hokkaido folk song. ME:I posted a similar video, and the trend has since spread to Otani Emiri of =LOVE, CUTIE STREET, Nogizaka46 and SKE48. Record company VAP says posts tagged with the Soran Bushi hashtag drew about 20 million views in the 30 days to September 26.
The soundtrack is not a new recording. 'TAKIO'S SOHRAN 2' comes from the 1998 album 'NIPPONESE SONG,' where Ito Takio and TAKIO BAND reworked the Hokkaido folk song with prominent beats and shouts. The clip that started the run uses choreography built from modern dance rather than the traditional Soran Bushi steps, and VAP credits that individualistic arrangement, closer to recent K-pop idol moves, with pulling in the wave of imitation dance posts that followed. The name 'Jiyukei' (free-form) has stuck to the format, which lets each user post a variation instead of matching a fixed routine.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.