Kodomo no hi

by aleks

Yesterday we had another joyful celebration of Children's Day (Kodomo no hi) in Seattle Japanese Garden: the kids were making origami, sun hats, carp sock streamers and created their own zen gardens.

SJG • 5/26/14 - origami and hat making

The children enjoyed feeding the koi fish on the bridge and were entertained by Mimibunko Puppet Theatre performances and Kaze Taiko Drummers; upon leaving they were receiving a sweet Japanese treat (no food in the Garden) to make the memory of the fun last a few minutes longer.

SJG • 5/26/14 - koi feeding

I found this description of Kodomo no hi on Asia Kids Society website - while copying it below I noted  that it included Koinobori Song - something we should incorporate into future celebrations, theach children this sweet song or at least play it by the table where they make koinobori:

SJG • 5/26/14 - my first zen garden

Koinobori Song

Yane yori takai koinobori

Ookii magoi wa otousan

Chiisai higoi wa kodomotachi

Omoshirosouni oyoideru 

The koinobori are higher than the rooftops

The big black carp is the father

The small golden-red carp is the child

How pleasing it is to swim!

Children are stars. Fish fly. Schools have the day off.

Every May 5, it is Kodomo no Hi or "Children’s Day" in Japan. Families fly koinobori banners in the shape of a carp (a type of fish) for each child in their house. In Japanese folklore, the carp is a symbol of determination and vigor, overcoming all obstacles to swim upstream. Samurai warrior figurines and samurai kabuto helmets are also displayed in homes to inspire strength and bravery.

SJG • 5/26/14 -koinobori making

Children indulge in kashiwa-mochi, sticky rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves, and other sweets. Around the country there are many events for children and families. Children take center stage in traditional Japanese plays. Thousands of children compete in the "Kids' Olympics" held at the National Kasumigaoka Stadium in Tokyo. Children also use the day to thank and show respect for the teachers, parents, and relatives who care for them.

SJG • 5/26/14 - Mimibunko Puppet Theatre

Until 1948, May 5 was called Tango no sekku and only honored boys. A separate holiday called Hinamatsuri or "Dolls' Day" celebrated girls on March 3. […]

SJG • 5/26/14 - Kaze Taiko Drummers

HAIKU FIELD TRIP to our own Garden - this saturday, May 24th

SJG • 5/13/14 - entrance to the Tea House Garden

Dear friends and poetry lovers,

Do not miss this HAIKU FIELD TRIP to our own Garden. We will gain inspiration from instruction and haiku in the garden. Bring a  sack lunch to enjoy at noon in the TCR during haiku sharing and discussion. Our instructor, Michael Dylan Welch, will lead the class and encourage us as we compose our own haiku.

Meet in the Tateuchi Community Room, Saturday, May 24th, 10 am  - 1pm

Best wishes from your Japanese Garden Event Planning Committee!

 Kobayashi Issa  1814

.あっさりと春は来にけり浅黄空


assari to haru wa ki ni keri asagi-zora

spring comes simply


with a pale blue


sky

Translation by David Lanoue http://haikuguy.com/issa/

• Open to volunteers and staff of SJG and their partners/friends (if you need a SJG contact  to attend this class email me, so we can became friends)
• Michael Dylan Welch website - GRACEGUTS here - his work, his bio, appearances and more…
• YES, bring your suck lunch and I'll bring a Bolivian huminta pie (Copacabana restaurant recipe)  in case you are still hungry…

SJG • 5/9/14

SEE YOU THERE!

Seattle Butoh Festival 2014

DAIPANbutoh Collective presents:

Seattle Butoh Festival 2014: Spring Solo Fest

May 30 & 31, 2014 •  7:30 pm

$15/$12 single; $25 festival pass

Taoist Studies Institute
225 N 70th St, Seattle WA 98103

www.daipanbutoh.com
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/622234

The festival will take place at the Taoist Studies Institute in Greenwood, an inspirational refuge of harmony and natural wood surfaces. Four solos each night with featured artists: Sheri Brown, Diana García-Snyder, Kaoru Okumura, Alexander Riding, Alan Sutherland, and Helen Thorsen plus new work choreographed by Joan Laage performed by Katrina Wolfe and Shoko Zama.

Photo credits:Dancer - Shoko Zama, Calligrapher - Yoshiko Higashimura, Photographer - Tomoko Jones

Attention docents:

1.) Coming saturday, May 10, 10am-1pm —May Bloomers Garden Tour—Unit86 Plant List Committee

1.) Re: butoh - we will have a continuing education class Gardening the Body—Art and Practice of Butoh on July 19, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM; it will be lead by artist Joan Laage, who is also our colleague docent.

'The wind rises' and upcoming garden tours

by aleks

• 'The wind rises' ( (Kaze tachinu, 2013) is a newest animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, a fictionalized biography of Jiro Horikoshi (1903–1982), designer of the Mitsubishi A5M and the Mitsubishi A6M Zero;  aircrafts that were used by the Empire of Japan during World War II. It is an utterly beautiful and poignant historical drama about a boy who dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes... Some scenes appear like self-writing haikus: when Jiro walks onto a meadow filled with flowers and grass covered parts of wrecked airplanes after the war reminded me of an old verse by Matsuo Basho: "A thicket of summer grass / Is all that remains / Of the dreams of ancient warriors."

The film has quite limited distribution (about one movie theater per city in our area), so catch it on a big screen while it's still playing at Regal Meridian 16, downtown Seattle. The title of the film comes from a novel of the same name by Tatsuo Hori, who took a line from Paul Valery's poem, "Le vent se Leve, il faut tenter de vivre" – The wind is rising. We must try to live…

SJG • 4/10/14 - Prunus mume,
Japanese apricot in the Orchard

• Garden tour 1: when I was recently researching prunus mume (Japanese apricot) for a post on the bloom blog I contacted a local writer and researcher, Arthur Lee Jacobson ('Wild Plants of Greater Seattle', 'Trees of Seattle', 'Trees of Green Lake' and 5 other books) to let him know that I quoted from his article on prunus mume in my post.  In response the writer  kindly let me know about Arthur Lee Jacobson's Open Garden from noon to 6:00 -  'you can visit my garden in Seattle's Montlake neighborhood'; it's  this coming Sunday, April 27th - very interesting website and invitation here…

• Garden tour 2: Don't forget that our Unit86 Plant List group is conducting a class May Bloomers Garden Tour on May 10, Saturday, 10 am for all SJG volunteers, docents and staff. Also, our  Plant Committee prepared a handout for visitors, containing April blooming rhodies and azaleas, available at the Garden Gate; the Early May rhodies edition is coming May 1st, Late May rhodies on May 15th - enjoy them!

SJG • 4/10/14 - royal azaleas blooming under saucer magnolia in area H

Reminder: 'Tampopo" film this Wednesday, Apriil 2, 12-3:30 PM, in TCR

by aleks

SJG • 3/26/14 - Cornus mas blooming

Our 2014 classes and films series are about to start!  from Jeanne P. email:

Japan film fans and comedy lovers, welcome to our first film of 2014 at the Japanese Garden. Bring a lunch, if you wish, and enjoy a film about food.  

You can find many plot summaries and reviews of "Tampopo" online, including this one from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com): 

"In this humorous paean to the joys of food, the main story is about trucker Goro, who rides into town like a modern Shane to help Tampopo set up the perfect noodle soup restaurant. Woven into this main story are a number of smaller stories about the importance of food, ranging from a gangster who mixes hot sex with food, to an old woman who terrorizes a shopkeeper by compulsively squeezing his wares." […]

Other reviews may be found on the Roger Ebert Web site: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/tampopo-1987. (He gave the film four stars.) You can also look at SJG Film Bank: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pr7S1rs_RJOkacYabNfwJN7WGdjb9ETZzvTi_E7Hx0w/edit#heading=h.nxa0qotwrrkh.

We hope to see you at the movies!

Unit 86 Event Planning Committee.

the trailer here:

Dr. Frank Kitamoto - thank you from the guides...

SJG • 3/19/14 - Camellia takayama

by aleks
thanks Jeanne P. for the idea and research assistance


Dr. Kitamoto was a terrific speaker. He spoke to us in November, 2012 for our continuing education series for the Garden docents. The title of his talk was: "Making a Difference: Putting Human Back into Human Rights—Lessons from the Past to Help Us Make Choices in the Present."  Dr. Kitamoto died on March 15.

Seattle Times has his obituary:

Dr. Frank Kitamoto, president of the Bainbridge
Island Japanese American Community, discussed
his experience as a World War II-era internee
on Monday at Woodward Middle School.

[…] Frank Kitamoto was 2½ years old in 1942 when he, his mother and three sisters were sent to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California after President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. His father had already been rounded up by the FBI for questioning; he joined the family later. 

The Japanese Americans on Bainbridge Island were the first group in Washington to be taken to the internment camps, Dr. Kitamoto said during an interview with Idaho Public Television in 2007. The Kitamoto family stayed in Manzanar for 11 months, then they were transferred to Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. 

Dr. Kitamoto’s earliest memories were from the camps, so, he said, he didn’t know what he was missing then. Later, he realized how difficult it must have been for the adults. He remembered spit-wad fights with other children and getting trampled at the end of the Miss Minidoka contest. When he was 5, he stole cigarettes from his dad’s dresser and smoked the whole pack, he told the television interviewer. Afterward, he was sick for a week.

“But I did give up smoking when I was 5 years old,” he said. “I remember that.”[…]
The rest of the article is here.

This picture is from Bainbridge Island
Japanese American Community website

His hometown's paper, Bainbridge Review also has a story:
[…] They had six days to pack up their lives. At the time, Frank Kitamoto was 2 1/2, and along with his mother, Shigeko, and three sisters, Jane, 9 months old, Frances, 5, and Lilly, 7, were first sent to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California. […]

In 1983, Kitamoto started an oral history project on the internment with Ron Nakata and John Sakai, and made repeated visits to classrooms across Washington state and beyond to talk about the history of Japanese Americans. […]
The rest of the article here.


In 2007 Dr. Kitamoto was interviewed by Idaho Public Television when he was re-visiting Minidoka camp (there is a yearly pilgrimage organized by and for former detainees):

[…]
Jim: It was interesting, we did a World War II documentary about World War II in Idaho and talking to some of the folks who were around back then, just regular folks who lived in Idaho, I asked them about the camps and I have to admit I was expecting this sort of sense of collective guilt that you hear from Caucasians in those days. Instead what I got was, Well, it's too bad but we didn't know what they were going to do. We didn't know what was in their hearts.

Frank: That's right. Yeah, I think when people are under the stress of fear for themselves a person becomes very self centered and worries more about themselves and how an action may affect another person and a lot of times when we become so fearful of losing our power or our identity or our safeness, it becomes important for us to be able to find a reason to defend that by doing something and I think in a case like that it becomes hard to identify that you may have done something wrong to a group a people that may not be justified so maybe somewhere along the line here we'll be able to help people realize that power is not really military or strength or the Patriot Act or home security. Really the authentic power is really how you care for each other and the more human you can be and the more soulful you are, the better this world will be because you know when you get right down to it that's the purpose in life, is caring for each other, not how you can influence someone or manipulate someone.
[…]
The rest of the interview transcript is here.

SJG • 3/19/14 - Camellia Takayama