NAGANO, JAPAN: Braving heavy rains, hundreds of Tibetans and Japanese gathered at Kikisoso Tibet Festival held from 17-19 Sept. in Japan to celebrate the enriching Tibetan culture and history, and strengthen exchange between Japanese and Tibetans.
A scenic hill surrounded by lush forest in the historic city of Matsumoto in northern Japan was chosen as the venue of the festival to give the participants a feel of the atmosphere in Tibet. The festival featured live music concerts, workshops on Tibetan music, tradition and medicine, and rendition of Tibetan folk tales among various other programmes.
The festival kicked off with the traditional Sangsol ceremony along with a beautiful rendition of opera by Tenzin Kunsang, a former artist of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, who now lives in Japan. It was followed by a workshop on Tibetan circle dance by Tenzin Kunsang.
An exclusive crowd of Japanese glued to the stage as Mr Ogawa, a Japanese who mastered in Tibetan medicine at Men-Tsee Khang in Dharamshala, gave a workshop on Tibetan medicine. While reading verses from the Tibetan medical text with fluency and a powerful voice, he explained in detail the tradition of Tibetan medical system.
In between the workshops, the dome-shaped stage was opened to Japanese and Tibetan artists to showcase their traditional music. Artists from Ainu tribal region in Japan also performed at the festival.
Ms Kimura Emika, a Japanese who takes interest in making beautiful Tibetan woodblock printing, narrated beautiful Tibetan folk tales in Japanese. The crowd, especially the small children, listened attentively as she read the stories and later asked questions to the reader.
An evening live concert was held in a dome-shaped stage set by Japanese. The crowd sang and dance as Tenzin Choegyal, a well-known Tibetan artist based in Australia, sang along with the melodious tunes of Taro Terahara’s flute and Ayako Ikeda’s tabla.
Tenzin Choegyal, who travels frequently to perform in Japan, said music can connect with people at all levels. Praising the efforts made by the organisers, he said making people, especially the younger generation, to take interest in the enriching Tibetan culture, will be very effective in strengthening and sustaining support to the Tibetan cause.
The special feature of this year’s Tibet festival was the screening of Bringing Tibet Home, a documentary film directed by Tenzin Tsetan Choklay, a budding Tibetan filmmaker based in America. The film was based on the US-based artist Tenzin Rigdol, who set out to fulfil the last wish for his dying father to set foot on the soil of his lost country. The riveting film explores the personal pain of Tibetan exiles treading on home soil that has been smuggled out of their homeland to India. The film has received accolades at various film festival, most recently during its screening in South Korea. The director interacted with the participants at the festival.
There were workshops on Buddhist tradition of prostration and Tibetan National Anthem. The participants enjoyed various cuisines of Japan and Tibet.
“The success of the first edition of the Tibet Festival greatly inspired us to hold the festival this year. The enthusiastic response from the Tibetans and Japanese friends made the event successful,” said Genyen Tenzin, an ex-TCV student based in Japan, who is organising the festival with his Japanese wife, Mrs Shoko Yanagida.
“The idea behind organising this festival is to develop interest in the enriching Tibetan culture and history among the Japanese people. We also aim to strengthen exchange communication between the Japanese and Tibetan community based in Japan,” he said.
– Report filed by Lobsang Choedak from Japan –
