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Garden Isle to celebrate Japanese heritage at Saturday’s free Kaua‘i Matsuri Festival

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People can order fragrant green tea at many cafés or coffee trucks on Kauaʻi. Yet doing so bears little resemblance to the storied art of tea ceremony, just one of many cherished traditions on display this Saturday at the Kaua‘i Japanese Cultural Society’s 39th annual Kaua‘i Matsuri Festival.

Visitors to the Kaua‘i Matsuri Festival may experience a tea ceremony for themselves. Photo Courtesy: Kaua‘i JCS

“It’s a way of life, just like judo: You don’t just put on a gi and throw people,” said Sachiko Grollman, vice president of local tea ceremony group Urasenke Kaua‘i Doko Kai.

The group will prepare tea at the free-to-attend festival at Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall in downtown Līhu‘e.

Grollman, who has practiced tea ceremony regularly since moving to Kaua‘i in 1972, said: “It is a training session of life, so not simply making green tea. It is teaching how to be a kind person and help each other.”

Tea ceremonies performed by a teishu (master or mistress) and a hanto (assistant) can last between 40 and 60 minutes, depending on the proficiency of the participants. Study provides instruction in both practical aspects of hospitality and a broader philosophy. Its tenets, as written on a scroll in Grollman’s home, are wa, or harmony; kei, or respect; sei, or purity; and jaku, or tranquility.

At the festival, Grollman will be joined by dignitaries from Kaua‘i County’s sister cities of Moriyama and Iwaki, and many other demonstrators of arts, including bon dance, bonsai, taiko drumming and calligraphy.

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The contemporary pop culture of Japan is set to shine on Saturday as well, with a cosplay contest in which participants dress up as characters, a Sanrio booth replete with Hello Kitty merchandise, and Nintendo video games presented by the Kaua‘i Community College gaming club.

Esteemed Kalāheo-based artist Desmond Thain, known for his photorealistic approach to gyotaku, the Japanese art of fish printing, has spent days preparing for his first appearance at the Kaua‘i Matsuri Festival. He and other volunteers on Saturday will distribute 150 hand-printed T-shirts featuring several local fish species.

Desmond Thain surrounded by four world-record onaga (longtail snapper) prints. Photo Courtesy: Desmond Thain

Thain, who is half Japanese, said: “It’s cool participating in this … It brings me back to my childhood days when I was living in Japan.”

In the 2020 United States Census, 312,668 individuals in Hawaiʻi, or 21.5% of the state’s nearly 1.5 million residents, identified themselves as Japanese or part Japanese.

The current president of the Kaua‘i Japanese Cultural Society, Pearl Shimizu, cofounded the organization in 1985 during centennial celebrations of the Kanyaku Imin, or second wave of Japanese immigrants to Hawai‘i.

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Shimizu is pleased that in recent years many young locals have expressed interest in their Japanese roots, and encourages this to continue.

“I’ve noticed … a lot of teenagers, even male teenagers, like to dress in the kimono,” she said. “It’s really uplifting to see all of these young people.”

Grollman, who was born in Tokyo on Oct. 26, 1946, is in a special position to appreciate the beauty of Japanese culture and its impact throughout the world. US Gen. Douglas MacArthur banned most martial arts in postwar Japan, forcing Grollman’s father Kiyoshi Kobayashi – a professor at “the mecca of judo,” the Kodokan Judo Institute in Tokyo – to teach abroad.

Grollman traveled the world with her father as he brought judo to countries throughout North America, Asia, Europe and the Arabian Peninsula. During a brief stint in Russia, Kobayashi trained a child named Vladimir Putin, who would grow up to become that country’s president. Despite being a well-known martial arts enthusiast, Putin has been disavowed by the global judo community. In 2022, following Russiaʻs invasion of Ukraine, the International Judo Federation stripped Putin of his titles.

Performers at the 2023 Kaua‘i Matsuri Festival. Photo Courtesy: Kaua‘i JCS

Kobayashi, who died in 2013, eventually settled in Lisbon, becoming the father of Portuguese judo. A tournament named in his honor is held every year.

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Japanese culture, according to Grollman, is characterized by thoughtful attention to detail and ways of being.

“Even sushi is not just the eating of food: Sushi makers have to train themselves … It’s the dō, the meaning of life,” she said.

Flower arrangement, Grollman added, is another Japanese art form that goes beyond mere aesthetics. A vase containing a single bloom celebrates the virtue of simplicity; weeds displayed in a pretty bowl reveal the beauty of an otherwise overlooked plant.

“We have that kind of talent in ourselves to appreciate things that are not costly. It could be cheap stuff,” Grollman said. “It could be ordinary … But with our mind and love and care we can make another person feel very important.”

The 39th annual Kaua‘i Matsuri Festival at Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall will run from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 12. For more event information, visit kauaijcs.org and kauaifestivals.com.

Scott Yunker
Scott Yunker is a journalist living on Kauaʻi. His work for community newspapers has earned him awards and inclusion in the 2020 anthology "Corona City: Voices from an Epicenter."
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