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Pictured
above... a lovely young obon dancer
Photos and Text by Mark
Vallen ©
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Since
I live and work in Los Angeles, I always attend the annual
Nisei Week Festival (Nisei are U.S. born offspring
of native Japanese immigrants). During the month of August,
the Japanese American community of L.A. celebrates O-bon...
when the souls of the deceased come back to this world to
visit us. The highlight of the celebration comes when everyone
is invited to join the o-bon folk dance to honor and console
the dead ancestors.
The
Nisei Week Festival is timed to coincide with the Japanese
festival of O-bon, and is celebrated with art exhibits,
food, music, crafts, parades and much more. The festival
always attracts many thousands of people to L.A.'s historic
Little Tokyo disctrict. I'm
very pleased to be able to share my O-bon /Nisei Week photographs
with you... taken during the celebrations of 2000, 2001,
and 2002.
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This
photo is from the 1997 Nisei Week Matsuri and shows
members of the community carrying the o-mikoshi. (mikoshi
means portable Shrine - the "o" is an honorific).
The mikoshi houses the kami (God) of the village, and
carrying the Shrine through the town brings good fortune!
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Dozens
of people carry and dance the heavy mikoshi through the
streets, and at the end of the ritual journey, a barrel
of sake (rice wine) is opened to please the kami
and also to refresh the crowd of revelers!
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In
1998, the Nisei Week matsuri had as its honored guests,
thirty four members of the Iimori Shrine Toryu Yabusame.
The ancient art of Yabusame (archery from horseback)
is part of bushido, or the way of the warrior.
The martial discipline started some 800 years ago under
the reign of the Samurai class, but it also had a religious
connotation.
Yabusame
was a contest that challenged a mounted archer to hit three
targets while riding a galloping horse. The military significance
of such a skill is evident, but the act of hitting the target
also symbolizes harmony between heaven and earth.
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Yabusame
has been practiced for hundreds of years in Japan, but
today the ritual archery is mostly seen only at special
events associated with various Shinto Shrines.
The troupe that attended the '98 Nisei Week Festival
is from the Iimori Shrine in Fukoka City,
and the archery was perfomed by Shinto Priests and the
archers who train them.
The
troupe participated in the Nisei Week Parade (where
these photos were taken), but later gave an exhibition
of their skills at the Los Angeles Equestrian Event
Center. Co-sponsored by the L.A. Kyudo Kai
(kyudo is traditional Japanese archery),
the event attracted nearly 2,000 people.
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