Haru Matsuri 2020
Demonstration Report
copyright © 2020 Douglas Tong, all rights reserved
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On February 29, 2020, we had the distinct pleasure to once again partake in the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre’s annual Spring Festival, Haru Matsuri. This year, we were super excited to participate in this always enjoyable event as it was our 15th year of performing at the Haru Matsuri event!
For this year’s festival, they had some special attractions as listed in their write-up:
Every year as we prepare for this issue of the newsletter it always seems too early to talk about Haru Matsuri. But with the early arrival of snow and extreme cold weather days, we may be anxious to celebrate with this traditional start to spring!!
As always, the JCCC and Kobayashi Hall will be colourfully and elaborately decorated to welcome spring’s arrival. Festival guests entering the JCCC will be greeted by an elaborate display of Hina Matsuri Dolls.
Haru Matsuri will feature an array of demonstrations by instructors of Japanese arts and crafts such as Ikebana (flower arranging), Bunka Shishu (embroidery), Sumi-e (brush painting), and Cha-no-yu (Tea Ceremony). The JCCC offers classes in all of these areas and you can sign up for our Spring programmes after trying each one. In addition, there will be many vendor booths selling a wide variety of products.
The JCCC’s martial artists will demonstrate the techniques of “The Way of the Warrior” through Aikido, Judo, Karate, Iaido, Naginata, Kyudo, Jodo and Kendo.
For entertainment, there will be odori (traditional Japanese dancing), taiko (Japanese drumming) and you can also enjoy the “tranquil” moments of a tea ceremony demonstration. Delicious Japanese cuisine will also be available in the food court.
This year was another special one for us as well. This time, we had a large team participating in this demonstration. We experimented in previous years with inviting other outside groups to come and demonstrate with us. Those demonstrations turned out to be a big success. But this year, we decided to try to bring together all our groups from around the GTA (the Greater Toronto Area).
In all, we had six dojos participating: Dragon Fencing Academy’s Sunday Group (Toronto), Headwaters Kenjutsu (Orangeville), Getsumei no Michi Dojo (Niagara Falls), Meishinkan Kenjutsu (Ottawa), Dragon Fencing Academy’s Tuesday Group (Toronto), and our Peterborough Group.
All in all, we had over 23 participants. That’s a record for us! 😉
Let’s take a look at our groups:
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Headwaters Kenjutsu (Orangeville Group)
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Toronto, Orangeville, and Peterborough Groups
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Dragon Fencing Academy’s Tuesday Group and Niagara Falls Group
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Meishikan Kenjutsu (Ottawa Group)
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Haru Matsuri 2020 was a unique experience. It was really a momentous event because it demonstrated to us just how much we have grown over the past 3-4 years. That bodes well for the future, that we will continue to grow. It was also an historically important event because it was our 15th anniversary with the JCCC. It’s hard to believe that we have been performing at the Haru Matsuri for 15 years! Time really flies by. But each and every experience has been highly enjoyable and we always look forward to helping out and participating at the JCCC.
Thank you to all the members of our various dojos who came out to show the world what we do. It was a great show!
Douglas Tong
Tokumeikan
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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And the reaction from our participants was overwhelmingly positive. Here is what Erika had to say about it:
Haru Matsuri Demo 2020
On Saturday, February 29, 2020, I had the pleasure of participating in the Tokumeikan Kenjutsu demonstration held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto as part of their 2020 Haru Matsuri (Spring Festival).
This demonstration was quite different than the others I’ve experienced. Instead of participants simply performing some kata for an audience, we chose to go with a regular class format. Within this format, there were three separate arts all being practiced in the same room. Tokumeikan encompasses three distinct groups practicing three different Kenjutsu koryu: Ona-ha Itto Ryu, Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu, and Yagyu Shinkage Ryu. So this was quite a unique experience to be able to share all three, and all concurrently, with the public. This instance of getting the different group members together usually only happens at a seminar, so I found this to be a memorable event in that it helped bring the greater Tokumeikan family together under a different and more formal format.
I found it fascinating to observe the differences between the three koryu as well, as Yagyu Shinkage Ryu has a very noticeable difference in energy when compared to more aggressive styles. Even more interesting was to be able to see the evolution of technique throughout the styles, as they are historically linked through lineage.
We had quite a large group this year, and amongst us were members of our newest study group in the Peterborough area. I had a chance to work with them on some basics and helped with running the group leader, Martin, through the first set of kata. Being in front of a crowd can be nerve-wracking and this format was excellent in easing some of the stress of performing. It helped the beginners be more relaxed and allowed them to learn some of what was being taught to them.
The festival itself was quite busy with lots of visitors. The city had just gotten through a snowstorm and people were happy to get out and socialize. There were vendors selling everything from traditional Japanese food to clothing, gifts and books. They offered a semi-private tea ceremony to guests that wanted to experience what that was like and in the main hall, there were performances of Japanese folk dance and taiko drumming. It was a joyful and courteous atmosphere, and I am so grateful to have been a part of it.
I sincerely thank Tong Sensei for inviting all of his groups to attend and for allowing me to be a part of this unique demonstration. And I also thank the other group leaders and members for their part in creating an inclusive atmosphere and a great opportunity to see the different koryu under the Tokumeikan umbrella.
Erika Gaal
Study Group Leader
Meishinkan
(Tokumeikan Ontario East Study Group)
Ottawa, Canada
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