As American as cherry blossoms
35th annual festival elicits diverse audience with dance, entertainment and food
Lynn Tran, staff writer
June 29, 2007
1 | Photo Gallery

Photo by Joe Nguyen A mother leads her daughter to the Obon dance at the 2007 Cherry Blossom Festival June 23 at Sakura Square. [Photo gallery]

DENVER – Participants of the 35th Cherry Blossom Festival danced their way through the Japanese-American celebration June 23 and 24 at Sakura Square.

Thousands gathered for the annual festival, put on by the Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple. It was a celebration of Japanese culture and community.

“We attend the buddhist temple,” said Katie Ozawa, a volunteer who sat with her younger sister under the information tent. “[The Cherry Blossom Festival] helps to raise funds for the church.”

The event took place along Lawrence Street, between 19th and 20th Streets. At one end, different vendors laid out an array of colorful Japanese trinkets, arts and crafts to feast the eyes of shoppers. A large stage set on the other end hosted various performing troupes. Inside the temple, spectators roamed from one room, featuring the riveting bonsai exhibit, to the cafeteria where families and friends mingled and satiated their taste buds with the delightful Japanese cuisine.

“It used be a pretty tight community event,” said Glenn Asakawa, emcee for the festival. “Now there’s a lot more non-Asians and it’s great to share the experience with them and share with a broader audience. It’s become a big scene for sure.”

The first Cherry Blossom Festival took place in June 1973, about a year after Sakura Square was completed. The festival had attracted many Japanese-American families. Over the years, its popularity continued to increase so that today, there is a broad spectrum of festivalgoers from various ethnic backgrounds and ages.

Hence the Denver Taiko performing on stage was not the only spectacle at the festival; it was also the large number of diverse people. There were patrons – not necessarily Japanese-American – who were adorned in colorfully patterned kimonos, footwear called geta and socks called tabi to share the experience of the festival.

“We’ve been coming to the festival for two years,” said Julie Blohf, a mother standing with her two sons. Her dark brown hair was loosely tied up, while she was elegantly adorned in a kimono secured by a wide belt tied to her back. Her two sons also wore kimonos that were much simpler fashion, but still made them look noble. Aside from their European background, they resembled a traditional Japanese family.

“We actually come for the entertainment,” Blohf added. “I particularly love sitting and listening to the koto.” The koto is a traditional Japanese 13-stringed instrument.

There were other groups of people who were not dressed in the traditional Japanese attire, but still enjoyed festivities.

“I’ve been going to the festival for five years,” said Gary Collins, a festival patron, “[My wife] worked with a Japanese lady who we came with the first time, and we just got hooked with it.”

For many Japanese-American families, the Cherry Blossom Festival is a time of family reunion. Festivalgoer Hisi Inouye II has been attending the festival for 15 years and it’s an opportunity for him to see his extended family.

“My father is Japanese and my mother is Caucasian,” Inouye said. “My family has been coming here for years. I’m third generation, my father came over here during the late 1800s and we spread out from there.” Inouye proceeds to point out his cousin who he sees about once a year at the festival, and his infant, fifth-generation nephew.

The Cherry Blossom Festival was not the only celebration that took place this weekend at Sakura Square. Integrated into their entertainment program was the Obon dance.

“The Obon Festival is a gathering to celebrate the dead,” Asakawa said. “Lanterns are lit up and it’s a community gathering. (It’s) quite romantic. Anybody is invited to dance in the Obon festival, even if they don’t know how to dance.”

The Obon festival is also a family-reunion holiday. In Japan people return to their hometown to pay their respects to their ancestors’ graves. In essence, this particular segment in the Cherry Blossom Festival can be thought to be symbolic of the reunion of participants each year at Sakura Square. And to celebrate that, people of all ages formed four, large concentric circles dancing to various Japanese songs.

Lynn Tran is a staff writer for AsiaXpress.com. Lynn can be contacted via e-mail at Lynn.Tran@asiaxpress.com.