The Davis Cherry Blossom Festival is a project that I started in 2016, somehow now in its ninth year! The festival felt like the natural extension of my journey as a taiko performer, in which the art took me deep into places of cultural memory and creation. As a student in Bakuhatsu Taiko Dan, I had the opportunity to perform at various Obon festivals and at the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival through the invitation Seiichi Tanaka sensei and the San Fransisco Taiko Dojo. Seeing how taiko was interconnected and embedded in these places of gathering, I felt that it served a deeper purpose in the social and cultural lives of Japanese Americans and the becoming of Asian America. In many ways, organizing as a taiko ensemble is a reflection of organizing as a community. I wanted to share that purpose and that stage with other performers and cultural group, and to make a ritual that connected us with history and new becomings as people in community. What matters to me is that it is a living cultural tradition, and one that we can create together, centered around values that affirm human worth and humanity’s connections with the natural world.
Each year, we have raised money for different charity causes that support social or environmental justice. This year, we are raising money and donations for the International Refugee Committee to care for refugees in our area and Asian Pacific Resources, Inc., which provides programs that support the children of immigrant families. In the United States, as well as in other parts of the world, the political temperature around migration is currently high, and it is alarming and sad to see how this has brought out deeply inhumane impulses in both civic life and political theater. We hope that through social gatherings like our festival, we can reimagine life together and truly celebrate and foster diverse and tolerant communities. This type of compassion is essential to creating pluralistic democracy.
No longer in University, I am playing with Koyasan Spirit of Children Taiko, where I instruct youth and adult classes and lead the Kongo Gumi ensemble. In some ways, the festival gets easier and better with each passing, but in other ways, there are new and greater challenges. I’m never sure if the festival will continue another year, but we’ve been fortunate to receive funding from the City of Davis and Yolo County, and Sudwerk has continued to host us and help us with our charity fundraising through proceeds of sales. Most of all, we have a great team of young leaders and organizers - all taiko players - who have come together to make this possible. I think this team behind the scenes has been an equally compelling form of community building for me. I’m so happy to watch organizers go through this program and onto other socially conscious work. It is my hope that festival planning can itself be a tool for self-discovery and growth for those who take on the challenge.
Like delicate spring flowers, the future is not guaranteed. Will we fruit abundantly or will a sudden frost take us suddenly? In these years of our youth, who can really know what the future brings, but we still flower courageously. This night before the festival, with rain on the horizon, cancelled contractors, and a sprained lower back as the years bring heavier loads and fewer hands, I wonder if this bloom will be our last. Nevertheless, let us flower.