This Event has Passed
Saturday, August 18, 2018
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM See all dates and Times
http://www.japanphilly.com
On Saturday, August 18, 2018, the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia (JASGP) will host the Philadelphia Obon Festival. This free cultural festival will take place outside of Shofuso, the Japanese house and garden in West Fairmount Park, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will include live music and dance, tea ceremony demonstrations, arts, crafts, traditional games, food trucks, as well as a Japanese flea market and gift shop. Shofuso will be open with regular admission rates.
In Japan, Obon is a festival that combines spiritualism with communal fun. With roots in Buddhism and Confucianism, Obon has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places, and when the spirits are said to visit their families in turn. The Japanese diaspora has brought Obon outside of Japan, adding new cultural elements to the traditions such as taiko drumming and shamisen (a Japanese three-string lute) music contests. Contemporary festivals all over the world regularly feature a carnival-like atmosphere with seasonal snacks like watermelon and inarizushi (a kind of sushi or rice ball) — and in Hawaii: spam musubi.
Philadelphia’s Obon Festival began in 2013 in partnership with three local Japanese performing arts organizations: Kyo Daiko, the IchiFuji-kai Dance Association, and Urasenke Philadelphia. The leadership of Therese Stevens and Fujima Nishiki-no (nee Helen Moss) brought traditional music and folk dance accompanied by taiko drumming to the festival, while Morgan Beard and the Urasenke Tea School brought tea demonstrations to the festival audience. The festival has since expanded to include food trucks and a Japanese flea market and gift shop. This year, dance leaders from IchiFuji-kai will facilitate a folk dance practice the weekend before Obon on Sunday, August 12th, from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The dance practice is free and open to the public.
In Japan, Obon is a festival that combines spiritualism with communal fun. With roots in Buddhism and Confucianism, Obon has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places, and when the spirits are said to visit their families in turn. The Japanese diaspora has brought Obon outside of Japan, adding new cultural elements to the traditions such as taiko drumming and shamisen (a Japanese three-string lute) music contests. Contemporary festivals all over the world regularly feature a carnival-like atmosphere with seasonal snacks like watermelon and inarizushi (a kind of sushi or rice ball) — and in Hawaii: spam musubi.
Philadelphia’s Obon Festival began in 2013 in partnership with three local Japanese performing arts organizations: Kyo Daiko, the IchiFuji-kai Dance Association, and Urasenke Philadelphia. The leadership of Therese Stevens and Fujima Nishiki-no (nee Helen Moss) brought traditional music and folk dance accompanied by taiko drumming to the festival, while Morgan Beard and the Urasenke Tea School brought tea demonstrations to the festival audience. The festival has since expanded to include food trucks and a Japanese flea market and gift shop. This year, dance leaders from IchiFuji-kai will facilitate a folk dance practice the weekend before Obon on Sunday, August 12th, from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The dance practice is free and open to the public.
