仏教会主催の６１回目NY盆踊りで初デビューしました•The NYBC 61st Annual Obon Dance

Who are These Two?

３０年も居て一度も踊った事のなかった私が参加したので盛大になった訳ではありませんが、サッカーのワールドカップ決勝戦の時間帯なのに、去年参加したワ イフと友達家族からも踊りへ一般参加した方々が今年は特に多かったように思うと聞き、踊る輪か何重にも膨れ盛大でありました。盆踊りは１０曲ぐらいを３ セットで休憩時間に、橘流の日本舞踊団体による踊りの披露と僧太鼓の演奏に獅子舞と切れ目のない催しで素晴らしく楽しかったです。

２週間 で４回の盆踊りの練習（橘流の先生方が特別に稽古をつけて下さいます、もちろん無料で。）へ欠かせず通った甲斐があり、全曲は覚えきれないけど、何とか恥 をかかない程度には踊れていたようです。

着物を着ると心も侍気分に早変わりしてしまうので、雰囲気が漂うのでしょうか、和服の日本男子が 少ない為か、何故だか多くの観衆のアメリカ人からありがとうと言われました。このロン毛も人気者の秘訣でしょうね、アメリカ人に写真を撮らせてと欲しいと 何度もでした！（笑）

そして気がついたのですが、襟を奇麗に合わせてみても暫くすると胸が開けてしまう癖があり、つい浪人風（三船敏郎 風）になってしまい上品さに欠ける、それが良いのかもと...

NYですから太鼓グループは日本人だけではありませんが、いや〜僧太鼓は本 当に痺れるほど上手く、高度な振り付けに構成と魅せてくれる世界レベルでした。

今週（土）はニュージャージ州での盆踊りに行きます。 チャーターバスで３時間くらいの所にある Seabrook で、第二次世界大戦時の移民日系人には縁のある街です。
戦争が始まるとウエストコスト （カルフォルニア州等）では日系人は強制的にキャンプ（収容場）に押し込まれ、全ての財産を没収されました。

イーストコストではウエスト ほど差別的なことがなかったと事で、ニュージャージ州では此処で働けばキャンプ（自由な身？）には入らないですみ、一応安全に生きのびる事ができたと、多 くの日系人が働いていた街です。
その生き残ったおばぁちゃんやおじいさん達が盆踊りを楽しみに待っています。できたら、当時のお話を皆さ んから聞かせて頂けたらと思います。

Seabrook は大農産業家の名で、栽培から冷凍食品を加工したりしていました。

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Although I had danced in quite a few Obon dances in the past, life kept getting in the way and I hadn't participated for many years. What I didn't realize until a just a few weeks ago is that Aki had never done Obon, even when he was growing up in Japan. I was very happy when he decided to try it out by going to the practices that are held at the New York Buddhist Church every year. At first he found the dances to be a little more difficult than he had supposed but he soon caught on. I had forgotten many of them too, but little by little they started coming back to me.

That Poor Hungry Lion!

I bought a nice-looking good-quality yukata for Aki on ebay* for a good price,  it fit him well, and he looked great! He had never really heard much ondo music either, and as I warned him, the catchy dance rhythms did keep sticking in his head, and he found himself singing them at the computer, in the shower, etc. (^_^)

The New York Obon dances were in 3 sets - 9 dances in each set, and between sets different entertainers performed. This year we had happyfunsmile, an energetic and entertaining folk-pop fusion group, the Tachibana Dance Group, who also give up their time to give us NYers odori instruction each year, and the always great Soh Daiko, and Hoh Daiko gave performances this year, too. As for the lion dance, the fisherman prevailed and as usual the poor old lion didn't get the fish! (see photo above left)

The day was as hot as it usually is for Bon odori, but yukata (light cotton kimono) are comfortable to dance in, and there is plenty of shade in our tree-filled Bryant Park. I wore my very old yukata and obi this year, but I hope by next year I'll have a new one. The dancing, as always, went well, with lots of bystanders joining in, and all having a great time amidst an aura of love, fun and friendship. Aki did very well, and by the end of the dancing, you would think he had been doing it all his life.

We're going to Seabrook NJ this weekend to dance again, this time in the evening, to the light of lanterns in a country setting. We don't have many opportunities to do obon here - California and Hawaii have many more in July and in August as well.

What is Obon About?
Obon in the USA     Read More…

Who can say for sure whether the spirits of our friends and family who have passed on come back to visit us during Obon? But who can say for sure that they don't? My feeling is that if they do, it's because they know that we're thinking about them, and so peek in to see how we're doing, much like a friend who calls you just at the time you're thinking about them.  I do think about them, especially my Mom and Greg, a close friend who had loved obon dance,  and died much too young. I like to think they're watching together, laughing at our mistakes and having a great time.

Sadly, According to Aki's contacts in Japan, although obon is gaining in popularity here, it's waning in Japan. What a pity!
For me,  true Japanese spirit has very little to do with samurai (who were in general, an unpleasant, inhibited, narrow-minded bunch),  or even worse, the uyoku who enjoy noisily campaigning for a militaristic Japan that they were lucky enough  never to have had to live through.
No way, the really great Japanese spirit is in the art and music that came from farmers and craftsmen - everyday people who created elegant design for everyday items out of cheap readily-available materials -  baskets, teapots, fabric design  of all kinds, music and theater.  I believe that's where the unique soul of Japan truly resides, and what a great loss to the world if it's allowed to die out.

Video - see Aki's odori (dance) debut below:

 Video: Soh Daiko's great lion dance, followed by some spectacular taiko displays:

Scroll down to see the rest of our photos in the slide show below.

*Note: If anybody would like info on buying yukata (kimono), obi etc. for bon odori, please contact us, I can send you some tips and links to sellers with good vintage yukata. (Sorry,I don't really like the new designs as much)

日本語/明　English: Liz