Kotomi Osa, left helps Nanami Hotta, 6, with a kimono at the Japanese School’s Cultural Festival yesterday
Japanese School gives a glimpse into traditions
By Martin B. Cassidy
Norwalk Advocate
After about ten minutes in which multiple sashes and cords were fastened, Lily Marone of Greenwich had completed the elaborate process of donning a traditional Japanese kimono.
'Putting on the ties was the hardest part,' the eight-year old said.
By custom in Japan, a mother teaches her daughter how to don a kimono, which is traditionally worn on New Year's Day and to visit shrines on holidays, said Yoko Takagahara, a mother of a Japanese School of Greenwich student who helped Lily.
'Fewer people in Japan wear them now,' Takagahara said.
Parents and students at the Greenwich Japanese School gave curious residents from town and elsewhere a chance to sample Japanese traditions at the school's 2007 Culture Festival at its Lake Avenue campus.
The school teaches students the national Japanese curriculum for children of Japanese families living in the tri-state area, and has about 180 students from first through ninth grade. It is overseen by Japan's Ministry of Education.
Visitors watched men demonstrate their skill in the martial arts karate and kendo, the sacred Zen ritual of the Japanese tea ceremony, and children learned to play Bun Bun Goma, a game which is played with cardboard tops made by children.
The festival teaches students to share Japanese culture with others, Eiji Nishimura, president of the school's Parent Teacher's Association, a goal which is not a natural part of the nation's character.
'Japanese culture is fairly passive about opening up and interacting with other communities but the event is a chance to learn to be as open as possible,' Nishimura said.
Nishimura explained that the Japanese tea ceremony, karate, and kendo, the Japanese version of fencing, all embody the cultural tenet of 'kata' or form which is important in Japanese life.
The ritualized preparation and serving of guests at a tea ceremony is geared to emphasizing Zen buddhist principles, Nishimura said, providing participants a chance to reflect and become more spiritually aware.......
Original Norwalk Advocate article: Japanese School gives a glimpse into traditions
No comments:
Post a Comment