summer 3: obon
On Sunday, Anna, Kyle, and I went to the Obon Festival in the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple. Obon is a Japanese holiday held to "honor the departed spirits of one's ancestors." In the diluted, mostly nisei Japanese community of Palo Alto, the festival unsurprisingly feels a bit like a tourist attraction/advertisement for the temple/local talent show.
But I suppose that's what makes it authentic, right? A holiday organized by the people, not faceless corporations bent on seasonal profit.
Anyhow, we ate good food:
I sold Sapporo:
We saw a cute little girl who ran through the chairs set up in front of the platform [yagura] for the taiko and later, dance leaders:
This girl later tried to push her grandfather bodily out of her way and also attempted to gnaw through that whistle in her mouth. Tough girl.
We saw a koto/shamisen perf, which was terribly off key and beat, and a kendo demo, which was very impressive [maybe I am biased, considering my piano]:
There were quite a few interesting things about the kendo demo--
The old sensei who narrated the demo is Walter Hashimoto, a 7th degree [8 being GOD, 7th being GODLY, and 4th being 'can own your ass/teach you kendo']. Among the sensei's present were Ichimura and Chung, who are 6th and 4th degree. :O Yes, Anna and Kyle, I researched.
Chung sensei, on the right in the left pic, looks a LOT like my friend Alfred, who used to do kendo in Korea and is tall, skinny, and buff.
So the crowd of kendo kids was quite diverse--no Hiro Protagonists, unfortunately, but two white kids who were pretty good too. Well, honestly, I couldn't tell, but whatever. There was a tiny little Chinese girl:
Who still proceeded to charge at Ichimura sensei with full force. ^____^ It was very cute when, in the middle of all the screaming and charging and whacking, one of the sensei absently pat her on the head. That picture makes her look much taller than she actually is. I think she's...maybe 7. 3 ft tall. CUTE.
Ichimura sensei had his son there too, and they had a father son sparring match. Anna and I imagined what a family quarrel between them would be like...*WHACK* "You didn't clean your room!" *BAM* "I wanted POKEMON, not a MATH BOOK!"
Finally, some pro taiko by the San Jose Taiko:
All in all a fun day.
I also found out that there is a kendo dojo about 5 blocks from where I live, and the head sensei [there must be a special name for this] is a HACHIDAN! 8th! Lessons are rather expensive though. Dojo reg fee of 300 bucks. :(
I would like to go to the dojo just to observe though.
But I suppose that's what makes it authentic, right? A holiday organized by the people, not faceless corporations bent on seasonal profit.
Anyhow, we ate good food:
I sold Sapporo:
We saw a cute little girl who ran through the chairs set up in front of the platform [yagura] for the taiko and later, dance leaders:
This girl later tried to push her grandfather bodily out of her way and also attempted to gnaw through that whistle in her mouth. Tough girl.
We saw a koto/shamisen perf, which was terribly off key and beat, and a kendo demo, which was very impressive [maybe I am biased, considering my piano]:
There were quite a few interesting things about the kendo demo--
The old sensei who narrated the demo is Walter Hashimoto, a 7th degree [8 being GOD, 7th being GODLY, and 4th being 'can own your ass/teach you kendo']. Among the sensei's present were Ichimura and Chung, who are 6th and 4th degree. :O Yes, Anna and Kyle, I researched.
Chung sensei, on the right in the left pic, looks a LOT like my friend Alfred, who used to do kendo in Korea and is tall, skinny, and buff.
So the crowd of kendo kids was quite diverse--no Hiro Protagonists, unfortunately, but two white kids who were pretty good too. Well, honestly, I couldn't tell, but whatever. There was a tiny little Chinese girl:
Who still proceeded to charge at Ichimura sensei with full force. ^____^ It was very cute when, in the middle of all the screaming and charging and whacking, one of the sensei absently pat her on the head. That picture makes her look much taller than she actually is. I think she's...maybe 7. 3 ft tall. CUTE.
Ichimura sensei had his son there too, and they had a father son sparring match. Anna and I imagined what a family quarrel between them would be like...*WHACK* "You didn't clean your room!" *BAM* "I wanted POKEMON, not a MATH BOOK!"
Finally, some pro taiko by the San Jose Taiko:
All in all a fun day.
I also found out that there is a kendo dojo about 5 blocks from where I live, and the head sensei [there must be a special name for this] is a HACHIDAN! 8th! Lessons are rather expensive though. Dojo reg fee of 300 bucks. :(
I would like to go to the dojo just to observe though.