Festival honors Japanese culture

By Hilliary Martino, On-Line Forty-Niner

Tuesday, Octber 27, 1998

Chrysanthemums celebrated at CSULB garden

Although the event was billed as a chrysanthemum festival, Sunday's Third Annual Chrysanthemum Festival held at Cal State Long Beach's Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden was much more than that.

The festival celebrated the beauty and nostalgia of Japanese cultural arts, using Japan's Imperial symbol, the chrysanthemum, otherwise known as kiku.

Interested individuals had the opportunity to purchase the celebrated flower and learn about Japanese traditions at the festival.

About 1,000 people throughout the day walked around the garden and glimpsed demonstrations of various types of traditional dance, paintings, flower arranging and traditional Japanese music.

"The festival gives an opportunity for community exposure to the very best musical performances, demonstrations, paintings as well, as to catch a glimpse of Japanese history and culture," said Jeanette Schelin, program coordinator of the event.

Rep. Stephen Horn of California, who was president at CSULB when the garden first opened, originally came up with the idea of a Japanese garden on campus.

Horn, who attended the event, said he was delighted that so many people could come to such a peaceful environment and escape the outside life of urban America.

The afternoon festival was filled with activities for children and adults. Individuals could make a hachimaki - a traditional Japanese headband - and create different types of origami, which is used to teach dexterity, precision and basic concepts of geometry in school.

The festival's presentation of the traditional tea ceremony was performed by Sensei Madame Shimbashi and her students, who were dressed in pastel kimonos.

"It is a pleasure to perform the tea ceremony because it allows us to introduce culture and history with people and enjoy the peaceful time," Shimbashi and her students said.

The Awaya Koto Conservatory provided the traditional sounds of koto and shakuhachi - Japanese harp and flute - that could be heard throughout the festival.

"To learn how to play the traditional instruments is time consuming and difficult. It is a very popular and prestigious art in the Japanese culture," said Yoko Awaya, instructor at the Koto Conservatory.

The festival ended with the sounds of traditional taiko drummers and the tanko bushi, festival dancers.