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O-Shogatsu, Japanese New Year

The exciting shishi-mai, or lion dance, will be held in the Cultural Village. Photo by Jonathan Ley.

Come join us for the Garden’s O-Shogatsu celebration!

O-Shogatsu literally means “standard month.” “Standard,” in this instance, means the standard a person sets during the first days of the first month of the year. This standard will then regulate their fortune for the rest of the year. Therefore, people are in their highest spirits and hope for the best. All ill-feeling and disagreeable recollections are left behind with the old year and a new chapter of life opens, replete with happy prospects.

During O-Shogatsu, people celebrate the start of a new year and hope for happiness and prosperity in the months ahead. Here at the Garden, we honor this special festival twice, once in appreciation for our members-only on New Year’s Day and then again on January 9th this year. Kadomatsu, traditional arrangements of pine, bamboo, and plum branches, are displayed in the Garden. Activities include the exciting shishi-mai, or lion dance, and presentations of tea ceremony, and koto music.

Let’s celebrate the beginning of 2022 together!

10:15 – 11:00am

Koto performance by Oregon Koto Kai (Cathy Rudd Cultural Corner)

11:30 – 11:45am

Lion Dance (Shishimai) by PSU Taiko  (Tateuchi Courtyard)

12:30 – 12:45pm

Lion Dance (Shishimai) by PSU Taiko  (Tateuchi Courtyard)

1:30 – 2:15pm

First Tea presentation of the year (Hatsugama) by Mieko Heriford (Cathy Rudd Cultural Corner)