FOR THE FAMILY
STAR-BULLETIN / 2007
The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii's annual Ohana Festival will include activities for children.
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Taking tea, plus more
The New Year's Ohana Festival offers a chance to partake in Japanese traditions
Begin the new year with the tranquility of the Japanese tea ceremony.
This weekend's New Year's Ohana Festival at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii offers the opportunity to learn about tea implements and how they were used in the traditional ceremony. A cha dogu (tea implement) sale also makes its debut.
New Year's Ohana Festival
Place: Moiliili Field and Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii
Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
Admission: Free; food and other items available for purchase, including omamori, or good luck talismans
Call: 945-7633 or e-mail info@jcch.com
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A traditional tea ceremony will be demonstrated throughout the day. The sale will feature Items included in the ceremony, such as chawan (tea bowls), mizu sashi (water containers), natsume (tea caddies), shifuku (tea bowl bags), fukusu (cloths for wiping tea caddies) and habo ki (feather dusters).
The cost of items ranges from $20 to $250 and proceeds go toward the maintenance of the Seikoan Tea House.
"For people who like tea, it's a good time to acquire items and learn a little bit," said Keiko Hatano. "The sale will have both brand new items and collectors selling their own items."
Hatano, a practitioner of tea ceremony with Edosenke Fuhakukai Hawaii, practices regularly in the Seikoan Tea House at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. "If you don't practice, the body won't remember. It is like teaching canoe paddling without a paddle. We are following the steps to carry on a tradition."
AGUSTIN TABARES / ATABARES@STARBULLETIN.COM
The highlight of the New Year's Ohana Festival is the tea ceremony, which Noriko Mishina gets ready to demonstrate using traditional implements.
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The Japanese culture combines a variety of traditions that include food, ceramics and laquerware, scrolls and poems, architecture, gardens and kimono dressing, she explained.
Hatano plans to recycle some of her own items at the sale, including teapots and feather dusters.
The selling of used items allows people to obtain implements at reasonable prices, explained Christy Takamune, gallery director at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. "The sensei can recycle their items at a minimal price."
As Takamune was searching items saved for another cultural center event, the annual "Things Japanese" sale, she found an array of items used in tea ceremonies. "Even if you are not a tea ceremony practitioner, they still make interesting decorative items."
STAR-BULLETIN / 2007
Japanese culture in many forms will be featured at the New Year's Ohana Festival. Enjoy a bonsai exhibit and Okinawan dance.
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The festival -- with its theme of "Honoring our heritage. Embracing our diversity. Sharing our future." -- offers far more than tea. A craft fair, storytelling, mochi-pounding and anime display are among highlights. The Classic Bonsai Club will display Japanese miniature potted plants and hobbyists can bring their own plants for advice.
Kids can enjoy rides aboard an antique fire truck, make-and-take crafts including a good-luck bracelet, cultural activities and games.
Two will offer entertainment -- Japanese and Okinawan -- including folk and classical dancing, Japanese sword and fan-dancing and Okinawan martial arts.
And if nothing else, enjoy the takoyaki, a ball-shaped snack of octopus, green onion and ginger, dipped in batter and grilled; or sekihan, a traditional rice and azuki bean dish; yakisoba or andagi.
FILE PHOTO
Japanese culture in many forms will be featured at the New Year's Ohana Festival. Enjoy a bonsai exhibit and Okinawan dance.
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