It’s Cherry Blossom Festival Time--Almost!
By Michelle Asakawa
June 23, 2004

Fans of taiko, teriyaki chicken, and vintage Japanese textiles won’t want to miss this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival, to take place in LoDo’s Sakura Square on June 26-27.

Held each year since 1972, the festival celebrates the Japanese American (JA) heritage and culture of Front Range residents through live entertainment, food and drink, arts and crafts, and informative exhibits and demonstrations. The fun culminates Saturday night with the traditional Obon odori, danced outside amidst Denver’s downtown cityscape.

In conjunction with Denver’s Consulate-General of Japan and the U.S.-Japan 150 Years organization, this year’s festival will observe the sesquicentennial of formalized relations between the United States and Japan with an honorary kagami wari ceremony. Organizers have invited representatives of the Japanese and JA communities, as well as Denver government representatives, to partake in the breaking of a saké barrel and sharing of the traditional kampai! toast.

Among the entertainment will be Denver Taiko, whose rousing drum performances have in past years drawn the festival’s biggest crowds, as well as performances of Japanese dance, koto, and martial arts. Inside the Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple, attendees will find exhibits of ikebana (flower arrangement) and bonsai, demonstrations of shodo (calligraphy) and the tea ceremony, and informative lectures on Buddhism. The temple’s gymnasium is home to a variety of good eats, including the ever-popular teriyaki chicken dinner plate, beef bowls, tofu don, and delicious Japanese sweets called manju and mochi. Volunteers will be pouring complementary hot green tea, but if that’s too much heat on a warm summer day, head downstairs to the beer garden for a cold cup of Kirin and a refreshing bowl of cold somen (noodles).

If good food and entertainment aren’t enough for you, the festival’s selection of arts and crafts vendors will have you merrily browsing through vintage Japanese kimono, handmade jewelry, Asian-inspired pottery, sushi makers, books and anime, dolls, fine art, Japanese Hawaiian T-shirts, and more. Look for the oversized Four Seasons Fine Arts tent near Pacific Mercantile, which will feature works by Hisashi Otsuka and Mizutani Koji. Nearly 40 booths, including a few informational ones tied to the Japanese American community, will fill much of Lawrence Street and the Sakura Square plaza. The plaza is also the place to be for demonstrations on Japanese drumming, how to make your own Spam musubi (Hawaiian-style sushi), and how to form beautiful rolls of sushi at home.

Stop by the information table to register for the benefit raffle, and you could be the winner of $5,000. You need not be present to win.

The Obon folk dance takes place Saturday night beginning at 7:30 p.m. and offers spectators a riot of color and sound. Practice sessions for the individual dances are held the week before the festival and are open to the public. Call the festival hotline for dates and times.

Although the Cherry Blossom Festival (in Japanese, Sakura matsuri) raises funds for the Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temples programs and operations, it relies on the volunteer efforts of temple members and nonmembers alike. JAs, students of Asian studies, and aficionados of Japanese food, entertainment, and culture are all invited to help with the preparations for and running of the festival.

For more info about the 2004 Cherry Blossom Festival, visit www.tsdbt.org/cherryblossom.html or call the festival hotline, 303-380-8972.