Sun 7/20 @ noon-3PM
The Cleveland Obon Festival, a Japanese festival honoring the ancestors, is celebrating its 80th annual event this year. That means it debuted immediately after World War II, a fraught time for Japanese in America. During that dark era (which is tragically being echoed today), Japanese-Americans, including many born in the U.S., were sent to concentration camps located in isolated, unforgiving regions (no alligator swamps though!) Two-thirds were citizens.
Following their release from the camps and having lost their homes and businesses on the West Coast where most had lived, many Japanese came east to cities such as Chicago and Cleveland to establish new communities. And surely a festival paying homage to the generations that preceded it felt like an essential element of survival.
This festival, taking place at the Unitarian Universalist Society in Shaker Heights, is free and open to all to savor the cultural riches Japanese brought with them to Northeast Ohio, including Japanese folk dance by the ShoJoJi Dancers, one of the event sponsors; Taiko drumming by Yume Daiko; and a demonstration of the Japanese martial art of aikido by Northcoast Aikido. Shiba Teriyaki and Dr. Bob will be onsite with food and refreshment.
The event takes place on the church’s spacious lawn; bring a chair or blanket. (It will move indoors if weather is bad.) Other co-sponsors include the Cleveland Japanese American Foundation, and the Cleveland Japanese American Citizens League.
Cleveland-Japanese-American-Foundation